Srinagar: Around half of the people suffering from hypertension remain unaware of their condition and many hypertensive patients struggle to control their blood pressure, which leads to severe consequences, according to medical experts.
Doctors who spoke with Kashmir News Observer said there is a need to start hypertension education programmes in educational institutions as younger people including school-going children are affected by it.
Dr Muhammad Salim Khan, Head of the Department of Community Medicine at GMC Srinagar said hypertension is the biggest pandemic of global concern among non-communicable diseases.
‘Every third or fourth adult here has hypertension but unfortunately, almost half of them are unaware that they have high blood pressure. This biggest silent killer doesn’t show any symptoms during the course of illness except some vague signs attributed to other diseases.,” he said.
“Unfortunately four out of five hypertensive patients are not keeping the blood pressure under control which leads to severe consequences like heart attack, brain stroke, kidney failure, etc,” Dr Khan said, adding, “Even we have observed hypertension among school-going children as our lifestyle and food habits have undergone drastic changes which include sedentary life, very less physical activities, high intake of salt, sugar and fat in regular meals and junk foods, smoking and substance abuse, stress.”
Against the recommendation of a maximum of five grams of salt intake by a person per day, a Kashmiri takes around 10-15 grams of common salt daily, the doctor said.
“Younger people including school-going kids and adolescents are putting a huge burden on hypertension as they become more liable to various diseases earlier in life than seen a few decades back,” Dr Salim said. “We need to start hypertension education programs in schools, colleges and offices and suggest behavioural changes in lifestyle and food habits.”
He recommended regular physical activity, reduced salt, sugar, and fat intake, avoidance of smoking and alcohol, and adherence to medication regimens for managing hypertension and other related conditions.
Dr Mir Mushtaq, spokesperson for the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir (DHSK), echoed the importance of adopting an active lifestyle, maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercise, and monitoring blood pressure for hypertensive people.
There should be regular medical follow-ups and adherence to prescribed medications to prevent complications associated with hypertension, Dr Mushtaq said. Notably, high blood pressure, a silent killer, threatens India’s public health. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that one-third of deaths in India are attributable to non-communicable diseases, with cardiovascular diseases leading the way. Hypertension is the most important cause of these conditions, affecting an estimated 220 million Indians. There are many risk factors for hypertension, one of which is high dietary salt intake in the Indian population.
