25% of adults are at risk of sudden death without knowing it.

High blood pressure is considered one of the causes of death in cardiovascular diseases, especially stroke, an unpredictable fatal disease.

The cause of stroke

MSc. Hoang Thi Phu Bang, National Heart Institute, Bach Mai Hospital said: High blood pressure is the main cause of stroke. According to research at the Heart Institute: out of 10 people who have a first stroke, 8 of them have high blood pressure. Stroke and high blood pressure occur mostly in the elderly.

To reduce the number one cause of death in Vietnam, it is necessary to control blood pressure well in the elderly. In addition to factors due to high blood pressure, smoking and some other diseases such as diabetes, carotid artery disease, peripheral artery disease, atrial fibrillation, sickle cell anemia, dyslipidemia, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and obesity are also the causes of stroke.

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Stroke is a localized brain disorder. It can be classified into ischemic stroke (80%) and hemorrhagic stroke (20%). Within the infarct area, a focus of bleeding called hemorrhagic transformation may develop, especially when the infarct area is large. In the United States, there are approximately 70,000 strokes each year. The most common risk factor for both stroke and atherosclerotic heart disease is hypertension.

In Vietnam, according to the results of a study on 754 stroke patients at Da Nang Hospital, 95% of stroke patients had high blood pressure. Of these, 48.5% had hemorrhagic stroke and 51% of these patients died after 28 days of treatment; 43.5% had ischemic stroke and 20% died after 28 days of treatment. The proportion of people with stroke over 53 years old accounted for 76%. It can be said that the majority of stroke patients are elderly and most have high blood pressure. Only 8% of them have an undetermined cause.

According to the report at the National Hypertension Conference in May 2016 in Hanoi by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Lan Viet, former Director of the National Heart Institute, on the results of an epidemiological investigation in Vietnam through 5,454 adults in a population of 44 million people, it showed that: 47.6% of the population has high blood pressure.

Do not ignore high blood pressure

A patient is defined as having high blood pressure when systolic blood pressure ≥ 140mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90mmHg or is being treated with antihypertensive drugs.

Master Phu Bang affirmed: Good treatment of hypertension significantly reduces cardiovascular events. In particular, it significantly reduces the mortality rate related to cerebral stroke. Reducing blood pressure by any method significantly reduces the risk of stroke. Every 2mmHg reduction in HATh will help reduce deaths due to coronary artery disease by 7% and more importantly, it helps reduce deaths due to stroke by 10%. The goal of treating hypertension is to bring blood pressure to the optimal level of 120/80 mmHg, with this blood pressure number, stroke complications can be prevented in almost all cases.

But the sad reality in Vietnam is that the rate of controlling high blood pressure to the target is still very low. In 2009, that rate was about 36.3%. By 2015, it had dropped to 31.3%.

Therefore, Dr. Phu Bang emphasized that the most effective solution to prevent stroke is to control high blood pressure properly, sufficiently and long-term. Treatment of high blood pressure must strictly follow the instructions of a specialist, with specific prescriptions for taking medication.

Along with adherence to treatment to prevent stroke due to hypertension, it is important to note the importance of lifestyle changes such as: weight loss, reduction of salt and saturated fat, reduction of calories in the diet, regular exercise and moderate alcohol consumption, adequate calcium, potassium, magnesium, fiber supplementation, and smoking cessation. Lifestyle changes have been shown to effectively reduce blood pressure levels by 10-20 mmHg, these changes are sometimes equivalent to a blood pressure medication.

According to Infonet