Hypertension or high blood pressure remains the number one risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It is also one of the top causes for death, according to a 2005 report of the World Health Organization (WHO). Data gathered from the Philippine Heart Association indicate a 17- 22 percent incidence of hypertension among Filipinos.
Now here’s the shocker: only 14 percent of the Filipinos who do have hypertension recognize that they carry the condition. The rest of the 86 percent still go about their merry way, indulging in fat-and-carb-rich foods and ignoring exercise in favor of the more indolent sedentary lifestyle, blissfully unaware that in a few years’ time, their unhealthy lifestyle and untreated hypertension can lead to organ damage, kidney disease, heart attack, or a stroke.
Patients who have high risk potential for hypertension and its debilitating effects are men who are over 45 years old and women who are 55 years old and above. Their parent, sibling, uncle, or grandparent at one time carried the condition or suffered a heart attack or stroke. They weigh 10 to 30 percent more than their normal body weight. They do very little exercise or physical ability, but engage in drinking, food binging, and cigarette smoking.
Rogelio Tangco, M.D, a cardiologist from PGH and Manila Doctors Hospital, elaborates, “Mostly people develop indigestion from over indulgence, but occasionally the dietary excess can precipitate more precarious situations. These salty and high calorie fatty foods can raise our blood pressure or even trigger a heart attack. And during reunions with friends or even alumni homecomings, alcohol binging is a common precipitating scenario for stroke.”
Too much cholesterol can fill out and deposit themselves in the arteries of the heart where they can solidify into plaques and block the flow of blood. Because hypertension does not give off any prior symptoms that can be taken as a warning bell, patients who do not regularly go to a doctor may function as normal as possible until a heart attack or stroke happens. Tangco recommends moderation, a spot check of one’s blood pressure, and stepping into the weighing scale every so often. “Be wary that all that binging can make your blood pressure go up,” he cautions. “Have your blood pressure taken, regardless of how you feel. A BP of 140/90 is indicative of hypertension. A BP below 140/90 is still normal, but some doctors feel that those slightly below it should be treated prophylactically as prehypertensives.”
Tangco points out that hypertension is a lifetime condition that can be managed by a combination of healthy diet, regular exercise, and appropriate medication. He advises, “I tell my patients that whatever medicine they take, they will take it for life. As such, they have to take medicine that they are comfortable with. Hypertensives don’t feel anything, so it is hard to make them feel better. A drug that makes them uncomfortable will result in poor compliance with treatment.”
[Source: Getz Pharma Philippines is a subsidiary of Getz Group U.S.A. and has been present in the Philippines through Getz Bros. Inc. since 1918. Getz Pharma manufactures mostly off-patent pharmaceuticals at its CGMP- (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) and WHO- compliant manufacturing facilities and markets these products in several countries across Asia, Middle East and Africa.]
|
