World Hypertension Day - 17th May 2014
Theme: Know your Blood Pressure

Dr. Kshetrimayum Kala Singh *

Pain in acute myocardial infarction (front) :: Pix - JHeuser/Wikipedia

Hypertension is a silent killer

One in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure. Every year 17th May is dedicated to World Hypertension Day (WHD). This is an initiative of the World Hypertension League (WHL), an umbrella organization of 85 national hypertension societies and leagues.

The world hypertension Day was 1st inaugurated in May 2005 and has become an annual event ever since. The purpose of the WHD is to promote Public awareness of hypertension and to encourage Citizens of all countries to prevent and control this silent killer, the modern epidemic. In other words, World Hypertension Day has been established to highlight the preventable stroke, heart and kidney disease caused by high blood pressure and to communicate to the public information on prevention, detection and treatment.

The world hypertension league recognized that more than 50% of the hypertensive population worldwide are unaware of their condition. So for awareness of Hypertension, we must do different activities such as newspaper & media coverage, rallies, public forums & mass public physical activities, as involvement of politicians, policy makers, popular public figures, NGO's and clubs etc.

The Theme for this year is 'Know your Blood Pressure'. Each and everybody must know the degree of the blood pressure in their body. Special Precautions to be given to those officers who are in sedentary jobs with high tension. Regular blood pressure should be checked for every months in the old age group. Pre-hypertensive and hypertensive patients should know the signs and symptoms of hypertension in their life time for avoiding unwanted complications.

Healthy Blood Pressure

Blood Pressure is merely the Pressure that the Blood exerts on the blood vessels while circulating. It is measured with an instrument called Sphygmomanometer. The average Blood Pressure is 120/80 mmHg. If it is 120-139/80-89 mmHg, it is Prehypertension. When it reaches 140/90 mmHg, it is called Stage I Hypertension. Healthy Blood Pressure in an adult means having normal Blood Pressure of 120/80 mmHg without causing any discomfort to our body. Healthy Blood Pressure will help to maintain a healthy heart rhythm.

There are two types of hypertension, Essential (Primary) & Secondary. The exact etiology of Primary is unknown and there are definitely causes in Secondary hypertension. Many factors are responsible for the Primary cause. They are.
a) Hereditary :- Most experts believe that hereditary does play a role in causing high blood pressure.
b) Excess intake of Salt :- That an excessive intake of common salt (Sodium Chloride) elevates the blood pressure is an indisputable.
c) Mental tension and approach :- All researchers accept the role of mental tension and negative thinking in the development of blood Pressure.
d) Obesity (Excessive Weight) :- The incidence of high blood Pressure is times more in obese than in normal personal.
e) Sedentary life :- The incidence of high blood pressure is much higher in sedentary persons than in Physical labourers.
f) Smoking :- The incidence of high blood Pressure has been found to be higher in smokers. Smokers more often fall Victims to atherosclerosis, heart attack and cerebral hemorrhages.
g) Alcohol Consumption :- The incidence of high blood pressure in drinking is times higher than that in non-drinkers.
h) Age :- High blood pressure is common in older age group.

Whereas causes of Secondary hypertension are kidney disease, adrenal gland over activity, sleep apnea syndrome, tummors, recreational drugs, thyroid gland dysfunction, aortic coarctation, pregnancy-related conditions, alcoholic drinks, and bad food etc..

Prevalence : One in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure. The proportion increases with age from 1 in 10 people in their 20s & 30s to 5 in 10 people in their 50s. 70 million Americans and 2 billions people worldwide have high blood pressure. The global burden of hypertension is rising and Projected to affect 2.5 billion persons, one third of the world's population by the year 2025. In India, it was reported on 1995 from Jaipur, the incidence of Hypertension was 30% in male and 33% in female. Again on 1999 the incidence at Mumbai was 44% in male and 45% in Female. In Manipur there is no clear cut study report but many Hypertensive patients are brought to the hospitals with server complications.

Signs and Symptoms

High blood pressure is called the silent killer because it often does not produce any signs or symptoms to some patients. Patient may have headache, dizziness or nose bleeding, palpitation, muscle cramps, giddiness, burning of eyes, distended neck veins, insomnia, neck pain & vertigo. But some patients have high blood pressure for years without every knowing it. Sign and symptoms typically don't occur until high blood pressure has advanced to a higher possibility of life threatening stage.

Hazards of High Blood Pressure

In patients of high blood pressure the blood vessels are thickened, hard and brittle. This disorder is term atherosclerosis. Hear attack, heart failure, kidney failure, aneurysm, cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) and retinal hemorrhage are the nature consequences of high blood pressure. Also it shortens the life and drags its victim to a premature death.

Objectives of Celebrating World Hard Hypertension Days.

* To motivate the common public for regular checkup of their blood pressure at least once a year.
* To encourage the people having hypertension on global basis to go to their health practitioner for regular checkup and proper tretment.
* To promote all the common public especially youths and young people to maintain their living normal weight, normal cholesterol level, normal blood pressure, healthy living, healthy eating, no execess of taking salt, taking more fruits & vegetables, regular physical exercise and etc.
* To encourage people to leave their bad habits like drinking alcohol, lazy routine, oily and fatty diet, fried and spicy diet, smoking, obese, overweight and etc.
* To motivate the people for regular checkup of their health and blood pressure by providing them an environment through free blood pressure checkup camp.
* To aware common public about the blood pressure, high blood pressure, its complications, how to maintain normal blood pressure, weight and healthy life style.
* To encourage all the medical professionals for providing proper treatment and regular checkup to their patient.
* To bring a revolution among common public for maintaining the healthy life style and healthy habits for whole life.
* To setup more hospitals and health centers in the vulnerable areas for the ease of common public.
* To promote early detection, prevention and control of the arterial hypertension in the vulnerable populations.

"Prevention is better than cure' is especially true for high blood pressure.

Secondary hypertension is severe condition which can be managed and cared if treated well. The ultimate goal of World Hypertension Day observation is to give awareness of the consequences of Hypertension to the general population, so that we can prevent heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, retinal haemorrhagis and atherosclerosis. The success of world Hypertension day is due to the enthnsiasn and Voluntary action of multiple stakeholders from every member country.

Love your heart, heart is your life