sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. This finding is consistent with previous comparative risk assessment analyses. The disease burden in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, caused by increased blood pressure,70 has increased its absolute and relative importance in risk factor rankings. The large burden of high blood pressure emphasises the importance of implementing both population-wide and high-risk approaches to reduction of blood pressure.183,184 The worldwide increase in body-mass index and blood glucose is of particular concern in view of the absence of effective interventions.62,74 In contrast to these risks, the burden of high total cholesterol is lower than that estimated in the 2000 comparative risk assessment, because the effects on ischaemic stroke were negligible at old ages when data from the Asia-Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration and Prospective Studies Collaboration were pooled,68,185 and because exposure has fallen in high-income countries.67
