13-M Pinoys have hypertension

Some 13 million Filipinos are suffering from hypertension but only half of them know about the illness, doctors from the Philippine Society of Hypertension (PSH) said yesterday.

"Hypertension can lead to various illnesses but it is oftentimes ignored or unnoticed. Less than 10 percent of hypertension cases are adequately treated or controlled," said Dr. Gregorio Patacsil Jr., former PSH president.

He explained that hypertension — better known as high blood pressure — is usually diagnosed late or when an affected person seeks medical treatment for illnesses that developed only as complications of hypertension.

Patacsil said that hypertension damages the blood vessels, causing the accumulation of cholesterol.

"As time passes, the deposition of cholesterol becomes bigger, clogging the vessels. This can cause illnesses like stroke, heart attacks, diabetes and kidney failure," he said.

While hypertension is more common among people aged 50 years old and above, some people develop the condition by age 35.

"It hits a person while he is at his maximum earning power… Hypertension is preventable if we only knew how to prevent it. It is something we can avoid," Patacsil said.

He pointed out that hypertension is usually caused by a "conglomeration of factors" that include stress, lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet.

The PSH, according to Patacsil, has embarked on a program, dubbed "Hypertension Specialist," to improve the treatment of hypertension in the Philippines and to identify doctors specializing in its treatment.

The society has so far trained 300 doctors, mostly family physicians, in the latest methods of identifying and treating hypertension.

"It was only five to 10 years ago when hypertension was taught as a formal subject" in medical schools, Patacsil said.

"What we want to do is to update hypertension specialists on the latest techniques in controlling hypertension. We also want these specialists to eventually put up hypertension clinics," he added.

With most people, hypertension causes no symptoms. Doctors say that certain symptoms are widely but mistakenly believed to be associated with high blood pressure — headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, flushed face, and tiredness — since these occur just as frequently in people with normal blood pressure.

Chronic or untreated hypertension can result in the occurrence of headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, restlessness, and blurred vision due to the damage to the brain, eyes, heart and kidneys.

Some people with severe hypertension develop drowsiness and even coma caused by swelling of the brain, a condition that requires emergency treatment.