World Hypertension Day - From The Editor�s Desk
"My mother is suffering from a coronary heart block. She was a known case of hypertension for the past 15 years."
"My husband had an angioplasty done last year. He is a diabetic and a hypertensive."
"My father�s left hand movements are still to recover from the effect of stroke he had two years back."
"My aunty is on dialysis due to kidney failure. She is also a diabetic."
"My brother is a smoker and he has high blood pressure. He is just 29 years old."
"My doctor informed me that as my parents are hypertensive, I must take care of my lifestyle and diet so that I do not get the problem of high blood pressure."
Such health worries are often the highlights of conversations you have with your relatives or neighbours or may be with one of your family members. Hypertension is a silent killer. Over a period of time it leads to heart, kidney and/or neurological problems.
It may show symptoms like occipital headache (especially in the morning), dizziness, palpitations, epistaxis (bleeding from nose), pain in chest (angina pectoris) or it could be absolutely asymptomatic showing no complains at all. Most of the times it goes undiagnosed as it does not show any symptom and this leads to further progress of the disease damaging organ systems that are more difficult to treat. Although the rate of incidence of the disease has increased tremendously in both the developing and developed countries, the rate of deaths has significantly decreased in the developed countries due to better awareness, detection techniques and treatment facilities.
Every year, 17th May is dedicated to World Hypertension Day (WHD), which is an initiative of the World Hypertension League (WHL). The WHL is a division of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) and is also in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHD was first inaugurated in May 2005, and since then, has become an annual event. The purpose of the WHD is to promote public awareness of hypertension and to encourage citizens of all countries to prevent and control the epidemic of this silent killer. "Salt and High Blood Pressure: Two Silent Killers" � is the theme for World Hypertension Day (WHD) 2009 to highlight the high blood pressure caused by excess of salt intake.
As per statistics, there was an estimated 972 million people suffering from hypertension in the year 2000, and by 2025, it is estimated that around 1.56 billion people will have it. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke, coronary heart disease, heart and kidney failure. The higher the pressure, the greater the risk and lower the expectation of life. Intensive research carried out during the past few years, aiming at the control of hypertension at the community level, has already provided valuable results. The studies have shown that control of hypertension in a population is feasible and that it can be carried out through the existing system of health services in different countries. This control of blood pressure leads to a reduction of complications caused by high blood pressure.
Regular health check-ups, learning more about your vitals like blood pressure readings form your doctor, integrating some changes in your lifestyle like reducing your weight, reducing the intake of salt in diet, giving up smoking, drinking alcohol in moderation, exercising regularly - are some steps that will save you from being a quarry of this modern epidemic called hypertension. And if you are a hypertensive, then by incorporating some lifestyle changes you can prevent the development of complications. This year on WHD, awaken from the sleep of ignorance to save yourself and your loved ones from this silent killer.
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