April 7 is World Health day. And this year, the theme is ‘Control your hypertension’.

In this post, we bring you some myths that surround the disease and are often the cause for many untimely deaths.

Myth 1: High blood pressure is an old age disease.

Hypertension is not just an old age problem anymore. More and more young people are suffering from high blood pressure related ailments. With age blood vessels tend to weaken and hence the chances of getting high blood pressure increase as you grow older. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), high blood pressure affects every third person above the age of 18.  The proportion increases with age, from 1 in 10 people in their 20s and 30s to 5 in 10 people in their 50s.

Myth 2: Women are less likely to get hypertension than men.

Both sexes are at risk of developing hypertension affects. In India, 23.10 per cent men and 22.60 per cent women above 25 years suffer from hypertension. However, the condition is more common in men under 45 years old and in women after menopause.

Myth 3: If I had high blood pressure I would get headaches.

Hypertension is a ‘silent killer’ which has no real indicators and can strike at any moment. There are no symptoms most of the time. High blood pressure in most cases is established during a visit to the doctor. Hence, you may develop heart and kidney problems without knowing you have high blood pressure.

Myth 4: A single high blood pressure reading means I have hypertension

Normally, your blood pressure varies throughout the day. It lowers as you sleep and rises when you wake up. Blood pressure also rises when you’re nervous, excited or active. Hence, a single reading of high blood pressure is not the basis for diagnosing hypertension. In order to diagnose you with high blood pressure you should have persistently high readings over time. Likewise, one normal reading doesn’t mean you don’t have high blood pressure.

Myth 5: Hypertension can’t be prevented if I’m in high risk category

Even if hypertension runs in your family you can take certain preventive measures to keep high blood pressure at arm’s length. Make dietary and lifestyle changes – a healthy diet, decreased salt intake, regular exercise, quit smoking, reduce stress, etc. If you are obese or overweight, aim to lose those extra kilos.

Myth 6: It is okay if only one of the blood pressure parameters is high

Our heart can tolerate occasional increases in systolic blood pressure compared to diastolic pressure. Consistently high diastolic pressure can lead to health problems. However, high systolic pressure is of concern in people above the age of 50. Hence it is advisable to take action if either of your blood pressure readings is consistently high.

Myth 7: My salt intake is under control because I don’t use much salt in my cooking.

Controlling salt intake means more than not using salt in your cooking. You have to consider the hidden salt present in pickles and papads, processed foods and bakery eatables too. Processed foods often contain high concentrations of sodium; typical examples are foods whose labels list sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or monosodium glutamate (MSG). Sweet baked foods may not exhibit a salty taste. But they contain baking powder or baking soda which is a salt of sodium.

Myth 8: High blood pressure isn’t a cause for much concern

Since there are no symptoms most of the time, you may not consider high blood pressure to be a big deal. The bad news is that long standing hypertension can cause problems with your vision (hypertensive retinopathy) and decrease blood supply to your legs. Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attacks, heart failure, stroke, bleeding from large blood vessel (aortic aneurysm), chronic kidney disease (hypertensive nephropathy), etc. What more – they can cause erectile dysfunction and affect your sex life.

Myth 9: High blood pressure can be ‘cured’ with medication.

Hypertension can be managed but not cured. It can be a lifelong disease. You will need to make dietary and lifestyle changes, and may need medication every day for the rest of your life.

Myth 10: If my blood pressure readings were fine the last time, I can skip the medication.

You are not equipped or knowledgeable enough to take decisions about your medications for hypertension. It is best that your doctor makes the changes in the dosages, drugs etc.

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This year’s theme for World Health Day April 7 is hypertension or high blood pressure. The disease is now striking at an earlier age, and even those in their 20s and 30s are affected, say doctors.

‘Earlier, it was usually people in their 40s and 50s who reported hypertension. These days, I have at least three or four patients every week in their 20s and 30s with the problem. There has been a 10 to 20% rise in such cases over the last few years,’ said Monica Mahajan, senior consultant (Internal Medicine) at Max Hospital.

The incidence of coronary heart disease and heart attack among people in their 30s – something unheard of earlier – is also becoming frequent, she added.

According to the World Health Statistics 2012 Report, one in three adults worldwide suffers from hypertension, a condition that causes half the deaths by stroke and heart disease.

Mahajan recalled the case of a 27-year-old BPO employee who came to her with complaints of headache and lack of sleep. ‘When I checked his blood pressure, it was 150/100, which was high. The triglyceride level was also high, but thankfully his kidney function was ok. The main culprit was his lifestyle.’

Ravi (name changed) worked in the late night shift, often ate out and had been smoking for the past eight years. Weekends consisted of binging on alcohol and fast food. A gradual change in lifestyle and a committed effort to exercise every day helped him recover his health.

‘Changing social norms on drinking and smoking has definitely increased the risk of hypertension in youngsters. Regular drinking beyond a certain amount and even a small amount of tobacco could prove harmful. Also, diet plays a big role. Extra salt can increase blood pressure,’ Mahajan said.

Chandan Kedavat, senior consultant (Internal Medicine) at Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute (PSRI), concurred with Mahajan.

‘With all the junk food and processed food, where salt is used as a preservative, our salt intake goes up to 15-18 gm a day, when it should ideally be 5-6 gm a day. Cutting down on excess salt intake can lower BP,’ added Kedavat.

The normal BP level is 120/80. A reading between 120/80 and 139/89 is termed pre-hypertension (denoting increased risk of hypertension), and BP of 140/90 or above is considered hypertension.

Doctors say that hypertension can lead to a host of illnesses, including damaged organs, kidney failure, aneurysm (blood-filled bulge in the wall of a blood vessel), stroke and heart attack.

‘Stress is another cause of hypertension. In a schedule of 12-14 working hours, one has to find ways to de-stress, and exercise at some point of the day to reduce health risks,’ said physician Sunidhi Malhotra.

And if you are one of those who pop the pain killer for every small headache, beware! Doctors say that over-the-counter self medication can affect the kidneys in the long run – and in turn, make you hypertensive.

‘Another thing to keep in mind is that it is not necessary that you will get headaches and have swollen feet if you are hypertensive. Many times, people find out about the condition only incidentally. It’s a silent killer. I would advise all youngsters, even in their 20s, to go for regular check-ups, especially if there is hypertension in the family,’ advised Kedavat.

Source: IANS

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Subrojit had just left home and was driving his car to work when a sudden spell of dizziness hit him. Thinking it was due to the intense summer heat, Subrojit continued driving. All of a sudden, he developed intense chest pain, accompanied by blurred vision and dizziness. His head started throbbing and soon  he lost control of his vehicle. Collapsed on the road, people assumed he was another victim of an accident and rushed him to the hospital. On checking his vital signs doctors found that Subrojit had suffered a hypertensive emergency and he was now in a coma.

Hypertension is something most people ignore. And this because they are mostly unaware of its symptoms and signs. This ‘silent killer’ as it is better known, has no real indicators and can strike at any moment. And to make matters worse, most people think it is an ‘old-age’ disease while it isn’t. It is now affecting a large young population as well. As of 2012, India had one in three people who were hypertensive.  

If you’ve been having symptoms like severe headaches, blurred vision, fatigue or confusion, chest pain, difficulty in breathing, palpitation or irregular heart rate and pounding in the chest, neck and ears, you shouldn’t ignore them as they could indicate that you have hypertension or high blood pressure.

In cases like that of Subrojit,  a person’s blood may spike suddenly leading to what is called a ‘hypertensive crisis’. It is a condition where the blood pressure rises to such an extent that it threatens to damage the organs within the body. Most often this crisis is triggered by emotional stress, weather change, fatigue or increased physical activity.

Some of the most common symptoms of a hypertensive crisis are:

• Headaches or blurred vision
• Increased confusion
• Seizures
• Increasing pain in the chest
• Swelling or oedema  
• Shortness of breath
• Excessive sweating

You have to keep in mind that not all people are made alike, and therefore your symptoms may vary from another person. In such a case it is prudent to remember that  any discomfort is worth investigating.

A hypertensive crisis is of mainly two types, one is a ‘Hypertensive urgency’, in which the blood pressure spikes momentarily but does not affect other organs of the body. This condition can be easily brought under control with the right medication.

The other type of crisis is a ‘hypertensive emergency’; in this case the patient’s blood pressure is so high that organ damage can occur. The blood pressure has to be lowered immediately, to avoid irreparable damage to organs such as the kidneys, eyes, brain etc.

If you suffer from a hypertensive emergency, and it is untreated, the resulting organ damage can lead to the following complications,

• Increased disorientation and confusion
• Bleeding into the brain
• Heart failure
• Chest pain, also called as unstable angina
• Fluid in the lungs also called as pulmonary oedema
• Aneurysms
• Eclampsia (this is a condition that only occurs in pregnant women)

A hypertensive emergency is rare, but when it does occur, it happens because the patient either has hypertension and has not been diagnosed or has not taken the right medication. In some rare cases a patient may suffer a ‘hypertensive emergency’ if they are allergic to certain medication.

In case of a hypertensive crisis, here a few first aid  tips you should follow:

1. Call for an ambulance
2. Lay the patient down with his/her head in a slightly higher position than the rest of his/her body
3. Ask them to take deep breaths
4. Do give the patient anything to eat or drink
5. Do not give him/her any medication unless advised by his/her doctor.

Untreated hypertension can lead to several complications including stroke, heart disease, kidney failure and eye disorders. So don’t ignore that nagging headache, or that discomfort in your chest, instead get a regular health check-up.

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Hypertension along with diabetes has become one of the most dreaded chronic illnesses in India. To understand the disease we first need to understand  the basics of blood pressure. Our blood flows through our arteries with pressure. This pressure is determined by the pumping of the heart as well as resistance to the flow of blood by the arteries. Due to genetics, high cholesterol or other reasons, the wall of the blood vessels get thickened leading to increased resistance for the blood to flow. Due to this, even the heart has to pump harder. This causes the blood pressure to go up causing hypertension. All the complications mainly stem from thickening of the vessel walls, leading to reduced blood flow to different body parts. Some of the more serious complications of hypertension include:

Coronary artery disease (CAD): Elevated blood pressure makes the arteries (blood carrying vessels) thick and narrow and damage their lining (endothelium). This acts as a starting point for the formation of a clot which can grow and this block the blood supply to the heart. When there isn’t enough blood supply to the heart, its efficiency is reduced and the tissues are damaged leading to angina (chest pain). The tendency to develop coronary artery disease is more if you have other risk factors like diabetes, obesity and family history.

Heart failure: When the blood pressure is high it increases the workload of the heart and the heart has to pump the blood against this elevated pressure and in this process the heart has the work more. The heart pays the price of this hard work by thickening its muscle wall especially the left ventricle and many times this thick heart(hypertrophied)  may not be able to pump enough blood to the different organs thus compromising the body needs and eventually leading to heart failure.

Brain haemorrhage (stroke): Hypertension increases the risk of brain haemorrhage by almost 10 times. It weakens the small vessels in the brain causing them to rupture. In fact high BP is responsible for 80% of all heart attacks and stroke.

Aneurysm: Hypertension also weakens the vessel wall causing it to bulge. This forms an aneurysm (distension or a pouch-like structure in the vessel wall) which can rupture and is invariably fatal.

Kidney damage: Elevated blood pressure damages the small vessels in the kidney. This reduces the blood supply to it and the kidney starts losing its normal functions and eventually leads to kidney failure.

Vision loss: Blood vessels in the eye (retinal vessels) are narrowed and the vision can get impaired leading to retinopathy and eventually blindness.

Sexual dysfunction: The arteries supplying the penis can get narrowed leading to reduced blood supply and erectile dysfunction in males.

Hypertension has also been associated with memory loss.

In pregnancy it can cause convulsions in the mother eventually leading to coma and preterm labour. The babies that are born are usually low in weight.

Hence, the high blood pressure is not just a reading on your sphygmomanometer/BP monitor but a warning to work towards reducing your BP and prevent the disastrous complications. In short monitor your BP, take proper treatment and bring about lifestyle changes and move towards a healthy life!

Being obese does not seem to have a detrimental effect on their health, and doctors should bear this in mind when considering what, if any, interventions are required, say researchers, the European Heart Journal reported. ”It is well known that obesity is linked to a large number of chronic disease such as cardiovascular problems and cancer. However, there appears to be a sub-set of obese people who seem to be protected from obesity-related metabolic complications,” said the first author of the study, Francisco Ortega, from the department of biosciences and nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

“They may have greater cardio-respiratory fitness than other obese individuals, but, until now, it was not known the extent to which these metabolically healthy but obese people are at lower risk of diseases or premature death,” said Ortega. Ortega is currently a research associate affiliated to the Department of Physical Activity and Sport, University of Granada (Spain); but the project and investigation took place at the University of South Carolina (Columbia) under the direction of Steven Blair, professor who is responsible for the long-running “Aerobics Centre Longitudinal Study” (ACLS) which provided the 43,265 participants for this current analysis.

Ortega and his colleagues found that 46 percent of the obese participants were metabolically healthy. After adjusting for several factors, including fitness, metabolically healthy but obese people had a 38 percent lower risk of death from any cause than their metabolically unhealthy obese peers, according to a South California statement. The risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer was reduced by between 30-50 percent for the metabolically healthy but obese people, and there were no significant differences observed between them and the metabolically healthy, normal weight participants.

Source: IANS

The procedure may be available early after trials produced dramatic improvements in the condition. It could be offering succour to the thousands of blood pressure patients who don’t respond to drugs.  The technique delivers a burst of radio frequency energy through a catheter to deactivate tiny nerves present in the lining of the kidney arteries. This could help in cases where the high blood pressure (BP) may be caused by faulty signals from the brain to these nerves.

Mark Caulfield, professor at the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary College, London, who has been involved in trials of the technique – known as renal denervation – said: “It could make a profound difference to a significant minority of high-risk patients, it might be tens of thousands.”

Latest findings from a trial show reductions in BP persist for at least 18 months after treatment. Doctors in the UK are setting up a registry to allow long-term monitoring of all those having the procedure, but so far trials have shown no ill-effects.

Source: IANS

It is the leading cause of premature deaths worldwide. It is known to increase the risk of ischemic heart disease, strokes, peripheral vascular disease and other cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, aortic aneurysm, diffuse atherosclerosis and pulmonary embolism. Hypertension also puts you at risk of cognitive impairment, dementia and chronic kidney disease.

Video Source: Health Guru

  Also read

• Why you shouldn’t ignore that borderline hypertension
•  Why hypertension is a ticking time bomb

“The cause of hypertension in insomniacs is due to the number of times the individual wakes up during the night as well as their sleep latency – the length of time it takes to accomplish the transition from full wakefulness to sleep,” says Christopher Drake, associate scientist at the Henry Ford Centre, who led the study. ”We found that the longer it took the subjects to fall asleep and more times they woke during the night, the more severe their hypertension,” adds Drake, according to a Henry Ford statement. About 30 to 40 percent of adults say they have some symptoms of insomnia within a given year, and about 10 to 15 percent of adults say they have chronic insomnia, according to the National Center for Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health.

The Henry Ford study compared 5,314 subjects with insomnia to those with normal sleep habits using an internet-based questionnaire.  Other study co-authors are Thomas Roth and Ehab Mansoor. Their research will be presented on June 12 at the Sleep 2012 Conference in Boston, US.

Source: IANS

Renal denervation is a specialized ablation procedure that has been clinically proven to reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension, or high blood pressure, that is resistant to medical therapy, said a statement from the company, which has its India office here.

Hypertension is the root cause of a variety of life-threatening health problems, including heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. It impacts more than 1 billion people globally at an estimated cost of $500 billion annually. About 25 percent of patients with hypertension do not respond adequately to conventional treatment with medication.

Using the EnligHTN system, an ablation catheter delivers radio frequency (RF) energy to create lesions (tiny scars) along the renal sympathetic nerves, a network of nerves that help to regulate pressure; the intentional disruption of the nerve supply has been clinically found to decrease systolic blood pressure.

“St. Jude Medical is focused on improving patient care while reducing the economic burden of epidemic diseases, and our ground breaking EnligHTN renal denervation system is a great example of that focus,” said Frank Callaghan, president of the St. Jude Medical Cardiovascular Division.

Callaghan was speaking in Paris at the ongoing EuroPCR 2012 — the official congress of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions.

Source: IANS