Hypertension and Life Style Modification

Published on: 24 May, 2019
Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in arteries is persistently higher than what normally it should be. Each year on May 17th, World Hypertension Day is observed to acknowledge the disease’s burden on health of a significant population of the world. The uncontrolled high blood pressure is associated with number of concomitant health problems like coronary artery disease, stroke, chronic kidney disease, cardiac hypertrophies and even heart attack. According to World Health Organization (WHO), hypertension affects 1.13 billion people and causes an estimated 7.5 million deaths worldwide. Across the WHO regions, the prevalence of raised blood pressure was highest in Africa, i.e. 46%. In Western Pacific Region, approximately 37% of the population is affected by hypertension. Among them, the prevalence of disease is more in men then in women. % raised blood pressure in population of WHO regions of the world Signs and symptoms A person with hypertension may not experience any sign or symptom. For this very same reason this disease is infamously known as “silent killer” as well. In spite of being asymptomatic and undetected, uncontrolled high blood pressure can adversely affect the internal organs of a patient. Patients occasionally complain about headache, sleep disturbance, restlessness or nosebleed where their blood pressure is high. The risk factors for hypertension include the following: Hypertension is among those diseases that can be managed through life style modifications as first line of therapy. Few changes in the way of living can help people live a better and healthier life. Enlisted below are some modifications that can be adapted: In Pacific Region, very limited resources are available that can help in educating people about their as well as others well-being. In this regard, Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN) provides free online learning opportunities to health workers in the Pacific and strives to make continuousprofessional development freely accessible to all health workers using relevant, effective and quality e-learning. With respect to hypertension and associated life style modifications, POLHN has detailed courses which precisely focus on each of the risk factor of the disease as well as how to manage it. It provides a wide array of information to help health care givers to update their knowledge and implement it for the well-being of patients. Hypertension focused courses offered by POLHN are: Health life makes living worth it. Register for these free online courses and help improve your life and someone else as well.
Prevalence of disease
Risk factors for Hypertenison
Life style modification
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