Mumbai: 1 in 3 have hypertension, but half don’t know normal BP range

Mumbai, May 17 (IANS) Despite one in every three persons suffering from hypertension in Mumbai, more than half of them are unaware of even the normal BP range, revealed an online survey on Wednesday.

The online survey for which over 500 people were consulted said that despite having symptoms of hypertension or high blood pressure, they did not consult doctors as they did not consider the problem a serious one.

Out of the participants, 370 were men and 130 women. While 265 were in the 20-30 age group, 212 were aged 30-50 years and 23 were above the age of 50 years.

"Only 23 of the 500 participants went for regular medical check-ups," said the survey.

During the survey, it was found that those in the 20-30 age group suffered from hypertension because of irregular sleeping pattern, untimely food habits, eating junk and packaged food items, and lack of exercise and sleep.

The survey was done by city-based Gadge Diabetes clinic on May 17, which is World Hypertension Day.

"Ideally, everyone should go for a BP check-up every three months and those severely suffering from hypertension must conduct a check-up once in a week. But, due to negligence among youths and the changing lifestyle that they have accustomed themselves to have led to a rise of hypertension," said Pradeep Gadge, Diabetologist at Gadge Diabetes Centre.

Doctors said that long-term hypertension or high blood pressure is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, vision loss, and chronic kidney disease.

The number of people living with hypertension is predicted to be 1.56 billion worldwide by the year 2025.

"In India, more than 80 per cent of the hypertensive patients belong to low and middle-income regions. Excess sodium intake leads to casualties due to hypertension. When the amount of sodium in the blood is high, it raises the arterial pressure, thus increasing the systolic and diastolic blood pressure," said Greesh Manwani, Senior Consultant of Internal Medicine at Saroj Super Speciality Hospital.

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