Over 9m die of hypertension yearly – Expert

More than nine million people die annually of hypertension worldwide, Dr. Moses Dike, the Medical Director, Priscilla Memorial Hospital, Umuahia, Abia State said on Monday.
Dike, a general physician, gave the information at a seminar organised by St. Finbarr’s Catholic Church, Umuahia, to mark the 2013 World Hypertension Day.
The World Hypertension Day is commemorated on May 17 every year.
The theme for the 2013 event is: “Healthy Heart Beat – Healthy Blood Pressure.”
He said that more than one billion people also had hypertension across the world.
Dike said that the figures emanated from the recent report of the World Health Organisation.
Dike, who spoke on the topic, “Hypertension, Causes, Effects and Solution”, said that high cigarette smoking, alcohol, snuff and salt were among factors that caused hypertension.
He said people suffering from hypertension were at risk of stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.
Dike identified neck pain and shortness of breath as some of the signs and symptoms of the disease.
He urged participants to check their blood pressures regularly and also reduce their intake of alcohol, snuff and cigarettes.
Dike urged them to reduce consumption of red meat and fatty foods as well as attend various health awareness programmes on other ways to check and handle the problem of hypertension.
Also, Rev. Fr. Leo Amafili, the Parish Priest of the church, urged participants at the seminar to educate others on the prevention, detection and treatment of hypertension.
Some of the participants, Messrs Sampson Mba, Chinedu Anyaso and Lucy Isha, said the lecture would assist them to guard against hypertension.
The World Hypertension Day is an initiative of the World Hypertension League, an umbrella organisation of 85 national hypertension societies and leagues.
The Hypertension Day was first held in May 2005.
The day is set aside to promote public awareness of hypertension and to encourage citizens of all countries to prevent and control the ‘silent killer’ and ‘modern epidemic’.
The day was established to highlight preventable stroke, heart and kidney disease caused by high blood pressure and to communicate to the public information on prevention, detection and treatment.
The league has recognised that more than 50 per cent of the hypertensive populations worldwide are unaware of their condition.
NAN.