Getting hypertension under control
MAY 17 is World Hypertension Day. The theme this year is “Measure your blood pressure, control it, live longer”.
About half of all South Africans have elevated blood pressure, and this trend has increased over the past few decades.
The SA Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2016 and published in 2019 reported that between 1998 and 2016 the prevalence of hypertension rose from 25% to 46% in women, and from 23% to 44% in men.
The prevalence of hypertension rises steadily with increasing age, peaking at 84 among women and men 65 and older.
Twenty-nine percent of women and 34% of men with hypertension were never told by their health provider that they suffered from it.
Equally concerning, in 2016 only 20% of women and 13% of men with hypertension were controlled. Hypertension has no boundaries; it affects all our communities, and recently we observed people with hypertension who were infected with Covid-19 experienced serious illness and death.
Younger people are presenting with the condition, which appears to be linked to escalating weight gain and obesity. Of major concern is that many people in South Africa with elevated blood pressure do not know that they have it, and even when people are diagnosed and put on treatment they are not controlled.
It is critical that South Africans have access and opportunities to measure their blood pressure and take action when it is elevated, as this may save lives.
Hypertension is associated with a number of conditions, disability and causes of death. These include stokes; myocardial infarction; endstage renal disease; congestive heart failure; peripheral vascular disease and blindness. According to Stats SA, in 2017, hypertensive disorders resulted in 19 900 deaths with a further 44 357 deaths associated with cerebrovascular diseases and other heart diseases.
This means about 30% of all deaths in 2017 were associated with increased blood pressure. What can be done to prevent and control hypertension? Eating healthy meals (low in refined sugars, salt and saturated oils and high in fruits and vegetables), being physically active (at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or at least 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous-intensity activity a week in adults), not smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol intake and getting blood pressure measured regularly. South Africans have far too much salt in their diet. The SA Demographic and Health survey found that daily, 10% eat fried foods, 2% eat fast food, 13% eat salty snacks and 14% consume processed meats.
When asked if there was an intention to reduce salt intake, 32% said that they were not interested and 48% indicated that they had started reducing their salt intake.
Reducing salt intake is important as the World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that 2.5 million deaths could be prevented if globally recommended levels of salt were implemented. The current global intake of salt is twice the WHO recommendation of no more than 5g (one teaspoon) of salt per person a day.
The message for World Hypertension Day has to be: focus on the five key approaches to prevent hypertension, and measure your blood pressure regularly.