Remember your blood pressure reading like your age.

According to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Lan Viet, Director of the National Hypertension Prevention Project Management Board, treatment of hypertension needs to be carried out continuously and long-term. However, in reality, many patients have not been able to follow these principles correctly.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Lan Viet - Director of Vietnam Heart Institute

Hypertension, a very common disease in the community:

Hypertension (HTA) is becoming a topical issue because of the rapid increase of this disease in the community. Indeed, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 1.5 billion people in the world with Hypertension and up to 7.5 million people die due to the direct cause of Hypertension globally.

According to statistics in the United States in 2006, there were about 74.5 million Americans with hypertension.

But what is more noteworthy is that the rate of people with hypertension is increasing rapidly in developing countries in Asia and Africa.

Right in Vietnam, according to the most recent survey by the Vietnam Heart Institute in 8 provinces/cities of our country, the rate of hypertension in people aged 25 and over is 25.1%! That means 1 in 4 adults has high blood pressure.

High blood pressure: “The number one killer”

In the 2002 World Health Organization annual health report, hypertension was emphasized as the “number one killer”. Indeed, in 2008, it was estimated that approximately 17.5 million people worldwide died from cardiovascular disease, including hypertension.

According to a 2006 survey in the United States, 56,561 Americans died from hypertension that year.

A study in Germany in the late 80s of the last century showed that the risks of death in one year in Germany were: Flying was 1/1,000,000; driving a car was 1/5,000; smoking was 1/250, but having high blood pressure was 1/50 (!).

It was also found that for every 20mmHg increase in systolic blood pressure and 10mmHg increase in diastolic blood pressure, the risk of cardiovascular events also doubled.

Hypertension is a disease that can cause many different complications, making the patient disabled or even fatal. The most common complications are:

- Heart complications: Angina, Myocardial infarction, heart failure...

- Brain complications: Cerebral hemorrhage, Cerebral softening, hypertensive encephalopathy...

- Kidney complications: Proteinuria, edema, kidney failure...

- Eye complications: Blurred vision, hemorrhage, exudation and papilledema.

- Vascular complications: Aneurysm or dissection of the arterial wall, peripheral arterial disease...

High blood pressure: “The silent killer”

Only a few hypertensive patients have some functional symptoms that suggest they should see a doctor, such as: headache, dizziness, feeling of "floating flies", flushed face, tinnitus, etc.

But most patients with hypertension often have no warning signs. Many times, when they see symptoms of headache appear, their lives end immediately after a severe brain hemorrhage.

On the other hand, the vast majority (about 90%) of patients with hypertension have no known cause (also known as primary hypertension). Only a small number of patients (<10%) with tha have a known cause (ie, due to the consequences of some other disease). Therefore, the signs of tha are often nonspecific and patients often do not see any difference from normal people.

Therefore, regular blood pressure checks, especially for people with cardiovascular risk factors, are extremely necessary and important.

Three Paradoxes in Hypertension:

Although we have clearly understood the prevalence and danger of hypertension, until now hypertension still has 3 paradoxes:

- Hypertension is a disease that is very easy to detect (by measuring blood pressure quite simply) but people often do not discover that they have hypertension.

- High blood pressure is a treatable disease but not many people receive treatment.

- Hypertension is a disease that can be controlled with the desired goal, but the number of people who achieve the "target blood pressure" is not much.

Indeed, according to statistics from the World Health Organization, only 30% of people with hypertension are treated, and of these treated patients, only 12% have good blood pressure control (below 140/90mmHg).

Even in some developed countries such as the United States, in 2006, of the total number of people with hypertension, about 77.6% knew they had hypertension, only 67.9% were treated and only 44.1% were well controlled to achieve "target blood pressure".

According to a recent survey by the Vietnam Heart Institute in 8 provinces/cities of our country, the rate of hypertension in people aged 25 and over is 25.1%! Of which, 52% do not know they have high blood pressure; 30% of people know they have high blood pressure but do not treat it; 64% of people know they have high blood pressure, have been treated, but do not reach the target blood pressure.

Why do these paradoxes exist?

This is really not a simple problem. We need to look frankly at the following objective realities:

- People's awareness of the prevalence and danger of the disease is still incomplete and inaccurate.

- Adjusting to a reasonable lifestyle is a very important issue in preventing and fighting hypertension, but applying it in practice is not simple because unreasonable living habits have existed for a long time and people's awareness still has certain limitations.

- People with high blood pressure often have many other accompanying diseases such as obesity, diabetes, lipid disorders, etc., making it even more difficult to control blood pressure measurements.

- Treatment of hypertension needs to be carried out continuously and long-term, however, in reality, many patients have not been able to follow these principles properly. This may be because the patient mistakenly believes that the disease has been cured, or because of economic difficulties and cannot continue to buy medicine, or because of some side effects of the medicine on the patient,...

Always be vigilant, check your health regularly, and maintain normal blood pressure levels.

Can we prevent and fight against this "Silent Killer"?

The answer is absolutely yes. The problem depends a lot on each of us.

In our country, facing the rapid increase and serious complications of Hypertension, on December 19, 2008, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung signed a decision approving the Hypertension prevention program to become a National Target Program. The National Steering Committee for Hypertension Prevention with the core of staff from the Vietnam Heart Institute has actively participated in implementing activities in the community such as communication, health education, Hypertension screening, and building Hypertension prevention models from commune, ward to central levels.

We hope that with all the efforts of the whole society and the whole community, controlling Hypertension will bring significant benefits. Promoting a healthy lifestyle and changing harmful lifestyles for each individual is the leading useful "weapon" in the fight against this "silent enemy". The following specific suggestions are always useful advice for each of us in preventing Hypertension:

- Lose weight (if overweight).

- Do not smoke cigarettes or tobacco.

- Don't eat too much saturated fat.

- Do not eat salty foods (reduce salt in your diet).

- Exercise regularly every day.

- Limit alcohol consumption.

- Avoid stress and anxiety, create a harmonious and happy life for yourself.

- Check your blood pressure regularly.

- Periodically check other risk factors (blood sugar disorders, blood lipids, etc.) to be able to control those risk factors promptly.

According to dantri