​​Myths regarding hypertension

Dr Santosh kumar Dora, senior cardiologist, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai bursts few myths regarding hypertension.​

World Hypertension Day is observed on the 17th of May every year. The theme​ ​for the year 2017 is ‘Know Your Blood Pressure’.​ ​Although most of the time there is no definite cause for Hypertension, it can be largely prevented with healthy diet, regular dynamic exercise, avoidance of smoking and excess alcohol consumption. These life style measures also adds to the blood pressure lowering effect of the drugs, thereby reducing the dosage. One of the best things about educating yourself about hypertension is shattering the myths surrounding this long term medical condition. ​​Dr Santosh kumar Dora, senior cardiologist, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai bursts few myths regarding hypertension.

1. No symptoms mean no hypertension:
Most patients with hypertension will not have any symptom. Symptoms of headache, dizziness, uneasiness etc may be present only to a minority group of hypertension patients. If remains untreated, hypertension may lead to serious problems like stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure and eye problems. So hypertension should be detected early and treated early and effectively. American heart association recommends blood pressure check up at least every 2 years to all adults even if they are asymptomatic, Blood pressure should be checked more often to the patients who are already suffering hypertension or at high risk for hypertension.

2. Hypertension is not common :
Hypertension is defined by systolic BP more than 140 mmHg and diastolic BP more than 90 mm Hg by multiple records. Data shows the prevalence of hypertension in urban middle class is 32% in men and 30% in women. The life time risk of hypertension is 90% for men and women who were non-hypertensive at age 55 to 65 and survived to age of 80 to 85 years. These statistics show that high blood pressure is very common in the society and the incidence significantly increases with age.

3. Role of life style modification has no significant impact on hypertension:
Contrary to the popular belief that the drugs are must and lifestyle modifications have no much role, it has been seen that blood pressure drops significantly with a dedicated lifestyle modification program and the requirement of drugs can be lessened if not eliminated completely.

Diet: Diet low in sodium and high in potassium helps lowering blood pressure. DASH ( Dietary approach to stop hypertension) eating pattern helps in preventing hypertension which consists of diet rich in fruits and vegetables, no fat or low fat milk and milk products, whole grain foods, fish, poultry, beans and seeds, and unsalted nuts. DASH diet pattern reduced by an average of 5.5 mm Hg for systolic and 3 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure. For hypertensive patients, the reduction was 11.4 mm Hg for systolic and 5.5 for diastolic blood pressure. Low salt ( < 1500 mg/day) further potentiates the reduction of blood pressure.

Exercise: One should do aerobic exercise in regular basis for around 45 mins to 1 hour daily for at least 5 days a week. Studies say that regular dynamic physical exercise for at least 30 minutes daily for most days of a week leads to 5 to 9 mm Hg reduction of systolic blood pressure.

Smoking: Study has showed that smoking cessation leads to reduction of syslic blood pressure by 3.5 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 1.9 mm Hg.

-By Dr. Snatosh Kumar Dora