Third of UAE residents have hypertension
NUMBERS COULD SHOOT UP DUE TO UNHEALTHY LIFESTYLE, STRESS
One in three people — both Emiratis and expatriates — have higher blood pressure readings, top health officials said yesterday.
Quoting recent studies, they said the number of people suffering from hypertension is likely to go up due to unhealthy lifestyle, stress and other risk factors.
Three separate studies in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain — all suggest that around a third of the UAE population has hypertension (high blood pressure), officials said during a campaign yesterday.
Professor Afzal Hussain Yousuf Ali, consultant cardiologist at Dubai Health Authority
31,300 screened in May at clinics, hospitals, homes, malls
14% of them had high blood pressure but were not on treatment
(DHA), said: “If we look at hypertension in UAE, there have been three studies — two of them in the local [Emirati] population in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the other one was done in the non-local [expat] population in Al Ain. And the approximate prevalence is that about 30 per cent of adults have high blood pressure.”
He added: “But less than 50 per cent of them know about it, and that’s the whole problem …”
Around 30 per cent of adult Emiratis and expats in the UAE have high blood pressure and the prevalence could increase with time, health officials said yesterday in Dubai.
Three separate studies in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain all suggest that around a third of the UAE population has hypertension (high blood pressure), officials said during the closing ceremony of the MMM18 awareness campaign.
MMM18, or May Measurement Month 2018, was held in May in the UAE and other countries to measure people’s blood pressure and raise awareness about hypertension. The closing ceremony of MMM18 was held by the Ministry of Health and Prevention.
Dr Hussain Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary for Health Centres and Clinics, Ministry of Health and Prevention, presented a keynote address at the ceremony, highlighting the success of MMM18.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Professor Afzal Hussain Yousuf Ali, consultant cardiologist at Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said: “If we look at hypertension in UAE, there have been three studies — two of them in the local [Emirati] population in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the other one was done in the non-local [expat] population in Al Ain. And the approximate prevalence is that about 30 per cent of adults have high blood pressure.”
‘Silent killer’
He added: “But less than 50 per cent of them know about it, and that’s the whole problem … It [hypertension] is a silent disease, nobody knows about it until it strikes.”
Hypertension is described as the world’s biggest “silent killer” because its signs or symptoms usually go unnoticed — yet it kills some 10 million people globally, officials said during the event.
Yesterday, Prof Ali said hypertension prevalence rates in the UAE were “probably less, but we haven’t got much [information] in those [previous] surveys”.
He added that the latest available 30 per cent rate “is expected to increase with time because of [an unhealthy] lifestyle”, stress and other risk factors.
The UAE’s 30 per cent prevalence, as indicated by the three studies, is the same as England; much higher than Canada (19.5 per cent) and marginally more than the US (29.1 per cent), based on national surveys there, Prof Ali said.
He added that the three UAE studies were undertaken separately by different health authorities in the UAE a few years ago, including in Dubai by the DHA as part of an international study. In all, the surveys covered tens of thousands of people.
However, findings of the recent MMM18, revealed yesterday, also provide more insights about hypertension in the UAE.
More than 31,300 people were screened in May at hospitals, clinics, shopping malls, labour accommodations, offices, homes, and mosques in the UAE.
Around 20 per cent were found to have hypertension in the month-long health campaign — around two in five of them had “not controlled” their condition.
Many unaware
Also, almost 14 per cent of people had high blood pressure but were not on any treatment — two-thirds of them did not even know they had high blood pressure.
Another 4,236 people had never checked their blood pressure before. 508 of such cases were found to have high blood pressure, many in the “moderate to severe” range (more than 160/100mmHg).
“So, we are finding a big number of them have blood pressures which needs treatment urgently.”
Speaking about the millions of deaths caused by hypertension worldwide, Prof Ali said: “These deaths are preventable and that is the tragedy, that these lives are needlessly lost. That is why measuring blood pressure saves lives. That is what we have been doing [with MMM18].”
Prof Ali said he hopes that following the success of MMM18, the next edition will double its scope to reach 60,000 people in the UAE.