World Hypertension Day 2025
- Hypertension is a silent killer -

Dr Kshetrimayum Kala Singh *

One In Three Adults Worldwide Has High Blood Pressure
Ask My Age, But Ask What Is My Blood Pressure

Now the situation in Manipur is very tense. Many vexed problems are responsible for the mental stress and strain. Many innocent lifes are lost in the relief camp from Hypertension (High Blood Pressure), Heart failure and stroke.

Again many patients from rural and urban areas are getting treated from complications of Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) like heart failure, stroke and Ischaemic heart disease in the costly beds of Intensive Care Unit and Intensive Coronary Care Units in Manipur. Pregnancy is given by God but many innocent mothers' lives are lost due to complications during delivery.

Untimely and improper treatment and complications of Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) cause Eclamsia, Heart failure, Stroke and Thromboembolism. Inspite of meticulous treatment by the doctors and nurses, the lives of these mothers are in peril.

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 by the World Hypertension League 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. 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 world wide are unaware of their condition. So for awareness, campaigns via media coverage, rallies, public forums and mass public physical activities, involvement of politicians, policy makers, popular public figures, NGOs and clubs etc is necessary. The theme for this year is "Measure your blood pressure accurately, control it, live longer".

Everybody must know the degree of the blood pressure in their body. Special precautions must be given to those who are in sedentary jobs with high tension. Blood pressure should be checked regularly in the old age group.

Pre-hypertensive and hypertensive patients should know the signs and symptoms of hypertension. If the blood pressure is high-control it and try to avoid its complications. Please note that sedentary job, smokers and sixty year are the dangerous culprits of our life.

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 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 2%2 times more in obese than in normal person.

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 cergral hemorrhages.

g) Alcohol consumption : The incidence of high blood pressure in drinking is 21/2 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, tumors, 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, hypertension was 30% in male and 33% in female. Again in 1999 a study 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 severe 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 knowing it. Signs 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. Heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, aneurysm, cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) and retinal hemorrhage are the natural consequences of high blood pressure. Also it shortens the life and drags its victim to a premature death.

Due to its serious complications on the brain and heart it was named as the NUMBER ONE KILLER BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO) IN 2002.

Objectives of Celebrating World Hypertension Days

o To motivate the common public for regular checkup of their blood pressure.

o To encourage the people having hypertension on global basis to go to their health practitioner for regular checkup and proper treatment.

o 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 excess of taking salt, taking more fruits & vegetables, regular physical exercise and etc.

o To encourage people to leave their bad habits like drinking alcohol, lazy routine, oily and fatty diet, fried and spicy diet, smoking, obesity, overweight and etc.

o To motivate the people for regular health checkup and blood pressure by providing them an environment through free blood pressure checkup camp.

o To make aware common public about the blood pressure, high blood pressure, its complications, how to maintain normal blood pressure, weight and healthy life style.

o To encourage all the medical professionals to provide proper treatment and regular checkup to their patients.

o To bring a revolution among common public for maintaining healthy life style and healthy habits for whole life.

o To set up more hospitals and health centers in the vulnerable areas for the ease of common public.

o To promote early detection, prevention and control of the arterial hypertension in the vulnerable populations.

The ultimate goal of World Hypertension Day observation is to give awareness to the general population, so that we can prevent heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, retinal haemorrhages and athero-sclerosis. The success of world hypertension day is due to the enthusiasm and voluntary action of multiple stakeholders from every member country.

-LOVE YOUR HEART, HEART IS YOUR LIFE-