Survey says that two-thirds not aware that they are hit by hypertension
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Hyderabad: Thirty-six per cent of Hyderabadis suffer from high blood pressure and two thirds of them are not aware of it, revealed the Great India Blood Pressure Survey carried out by the Cardiology Society of India in the city ahead of World Heart Day on September 29.
Of the 19,846 people surveyed, it was found that the number of “young hypertensives” was very high. The scanned results of 11,245 of the 19,846 were evaluated and the trends showed that 3,790 were below 45 years.
Dr Shiv Kumar, state coordinator of the survey, said, “The initial results are an indication that 29 per cent of the subjects are young hypertensives and there is a strong need to address this problem. There are a lot of young people in the age group of 30 to 45 years suffering from high blood pressure, which is a worrying trend.”
Hyderabad’s average (36 per cent) is seven per cent more than the country’s average of people suffering from high blood pressure.
Dr Venkat S. Ram, director of Blood Pressure Clinic at Apollo Hospitals said, “This is a very disturbing trend… with food habits and sedentary lifestyle taking us over completely. Lack of exercise and increasing stress are adding to the burden of high BP.”
In the total screening it was also found that 60 per cent of patients were unaware that they suffered from hypertension.
Dr Narsa Raju, secretary CSI said, “We were surprised to find that the people who were not aware of their hypertensive status were from the higher strata.”
Apart from this, 42 per cent of people who knew they were suffering from high BP, were not undergoing proper treatment.
Dr K. Seetaram, former president of CSI, said, “This shows that the treatment of BP is not being adequately done. Also, people need to follow other parameters of low-fat foods, less salt and exercise. These combined efforts will help reduce BP.”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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