Following the nation's rapid industrialization over the past 20-30 years, Korea is envisaging an increase in the morbidity and death rates of cerebrocardiovascular diseases. With over 25% of the total population suffering from hypertension and the losses due to complications enormous, the situation called for the Korean Society of Circulation (it is now known as the "Korean Society of Cardiology") to take action. To cope with increasing scientific needs, a committee was launched within the Korean Society of Circulation to set up a hypertension research society in July 1990. In March 1994, a preparatory meeting to launch the Korean Society of Hypertension was held, which was then registered in the same year during the 15th International Society of Hypertension, and started its official activities. On June 10, 1994, the inaugural conference of the Korean Society of Hypertension was held at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul.

Today, the Korean Society of Hypertension has become the center of not only clinical research but also epidemiology, preventive medicine, and basic research. Since its first academic meeting in June 1994, the Society organized a total of 60 conferences leading up to the Spring Meeting in May 2024. In addition, through the successful hosting of the “Hypertension Seoul 2016 (ISH 2016)” in September 2016, Seoul, Korea, the Korean Society of Hypertension is willing to open a new horizon of Korean research of high blood pressure, as well as introduce and share the latest high blood pressure treatment methods at home and abroad.

The Mission of KSH

Hypertension control and prevention of hypertension related diseases through research, education, communication and leadership

Scientific Activities

The Korean Society of Hypertension has continued to expand its scientific capability and has set up several working groups in strategic research domains. Each working group has a separate budget plan under the support of KSH and its own yearly scientific program including international activities. For academic congresses, the working groups manage the scientific programs of their specific interest during sessions assigned to each working group. Our working groups are as follows

• Working group on basic hypertension research
• Working group on epidemiology
• Working group on pediatric hypertension
• Working group on metabolic syndrome
• Working group on blood pressure monitoring
• Working group on hypertension Complication
• Working group on resistant hypertension
• Working group on hypertensive cerebrovascular diseases

Academic and Educational Activities

Today, KSH has become the center of not only clinical research but also basic research, epidemiology, and preventive medicine. KSH has organized a total of 60 conferences and 84 academic and educational lectures so far. The members also realized that it was very important to motivate primary care physicians for hypertension control. As a result, KSH set up a continued medical education program dedicated to hypertension control, which comprises tours to cities all over the nation by devoted members of KSH. As a result, 11,578 practitioners received training through the Society's educational activities from 2001 to April 2024.

Academic and Educational Activities

Since 2013, KSH conducted joint symposia with prominent international organizations, including ISH, ESH, JSH, INASH (Indonesia), MSH (Malaysia), THS (Taiwan Hypertension Society), and THS (Thai Hypertension Society). Furthermore, starting in 2018, KSH has actively participated in the ESH and APSH Summer School programs.

Publications

• Clinical Hypertension is the official journal of the Korean Society of Hypertension. The journal, formerly entitled Journal of the Korean Society of Hypertension was founded in 1995 and re-launched as an open-access publication in 2014.
• It covers a wide range of original research related to hypertension as well as reviews. KSH also published the Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertension in Korean in 2000 and 2004, which conforms with the ISH and JNC guidelines on the one hand and reflects Korean societal particularities on the other. In 2007, the working group on blood pressure monitoring published a Guideline for Blood Pressure Monitoring to meet the increasing needs of both practitioners and patients.
• Korean Society of Hypertension guidelines for the management of hypertension were published in 2013 and the guidelines were updated in 2018 and 2022, respectively.

Public Activities

In addition to their professional roles, key members of the Society reached a consensus that drawing public attention on hypertension couldn't be emphasized enough in order to improve public health. As a hypertension campaign for the new millennium, the KSH declared the first week of December as "Hypertension Awareness Week" in 2001.

Since then, KSH has been contributing to promoting the Korean people's health through diverse programs aiming to educate the general public on hypertension. Free consultations and open lectures in association with university hospitals are offered nationwide, celebrities are chosen as spokespersons to promote the campaign, and related information, from caring for the disease to daily rules and tips, are provided to the general public through its website (www.koreanhypertension.org).

KSH's efforts to prevent hypertension and related diseases and to raise the awareness of the general public on the disease are not limited to the annual Hypertension Awareness Week campaign. Its on-going public health activities comprise lectures and consultations, including a health guideline which was disseminated to the general public with information on various treatments for hypertension and easy measures that can be taken to prevent hypertension and related diseases

Additionally, since 2019, KSH has collaborated with ISH to conduct the annual May Measurement Month (MMM) campaign each May. Originating from World Hypertension Day (May 17), this campaign aims to raise awareness about the risks of hypertension and the importance of blood pressure monitoring among the public. By promoting the significance of blood pressure measurement, the campaign seeks to increase hypertension awareness, treatment, and control rates, ultimately preventing the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and reducing related mortality rates.