TP HCM20 year old male, had diabetes for 5 years but was subjective, until he had difficulty breathing and went to the hospital to have his blood pressure checked, increasing to 160/90 mmHg.
Reading the results, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Society of Veinology, lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, criticized the patient’s lack of understanding, having had type 1 diabetes since the age of 15 and being insulin dependent. but no treatment. Up to now, diabetes has hardened the large blood vessels that carry blood to the body, causing high blood pressure.
“If not treated, the patient is at risk of heart failure and sudden death,” the doctor said, instructing him to eat less salt and diet along with prescribing a daily antihypertensive drug of the ACE inhibitor type. Patients are monitored by doctors monthly, measuring blood pressure twice a day to promptly handle any abnormalities.
Another young man, 23 years old, often has headaches, dizziness, sometimes numb tongue, and blurred vision. He went to the hospital for examination and discovered that his blood pressure was very high, about more than 180 mmHg, sometimes up to 220 mmHg (normally about 120 mmHg). The doctor advised him to be hospitalized for observation to find the cause, but he hesitated and did not go back for a check-up. Then, the headache returned, he was admitted to the emergency room, the doctor diagnosed stage 5 kidney failure, which is the final stage, requiring dialysis unless a kidney transplant is possible.
At the end of January, People’s Hospital 115 also received a 30-year-old male patient. He was admitted to the hospital at dawn, but in the afternoon the doctor returned him because there was no hope of treatment. CT Scan results recorded a huge hemorrhage in the left hemisphere, causing the patient to fall into a deep coma, dilate pupils, and blood pressure to 240 mmHg. His family did not know he had high blood pressure before.
According to the European Society of Cardiology and the Vietnam Heart Association, high blood pressure occurs when systolic blood pressure is ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure is ≥ 90 mmHg, meaning normal blood pressure must be lower than 140/90 mmHg.
High blood pressure is considered a “silent killer” because it has no typical symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 1.5 billion people globally have high blood pressure. The number of patients is increasing rapidly in developing countries in Asia and Africa.
In Vietnam, more than 12 million people have hypertension, of which 9.7 million do not know they have the disease or are treated ineffectively, according to a survey by the Vietnam Heart Institute in 2020. Two years later, research Epidemiological research shows that 25% of adults have high blood pressure, meaning one in every 4 adults has the disease, in some places this rate is up to 40%.
Disease patterns in Vietnam are currently having many changes. Non-communicable diseases tend to increase, while infectious diseases decrease. Among them, hypertension is a non-communicable disease that is increasing and is the leading cause of death. The disease usually occurs in people aged 50 and over, but is now gradually decreasing in age. The proportion of hypertensive patients under 30 years old accounts for 10-15%, according to Associate Professor Nam.
Hypertension is common but has no symptoms or very few symptoms in the early stages, often discovered when going to see another doctor or have a routine health check-up. “In many cases with symptoms, the disease is quite severe, reaching level two or three,” Associate Professor Nam said, adding that that is also the reason hypertension “silently knocks down many people”.
Associate Professor Nguyen Manh Hung, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Cardiology, said that among people with hypertension, half do not know they have the disease. When they know the disease, 1/3 of them do not receive treatment. Of those on treatment, 64% did not achieve their target blood pressure of less than 140/90 mmHg.
Instructions on how to measure blood pressure.
The main cause of high blood pressure is atherosclerosis caused by the deposition of cholesterol plaques on the artery walls. Accompanied by inflammation and damage to the arterial endothelium, the blood vessels harden and make it difficult to move within the vessel. At that time, the heart increases contractions and intravascular pressure increases, leading to increased blood pressure.
For people under 30 years old, the causes of hypertension are often more diverse, said Dr. Hoang Tien Trong Nghia, Head of the Department of Neurology, Military Hospital 175, said. For example, congenital damage, genetics, kidney diseases such as chronic kidney failure, diseases of the endocrine system. Diseases such as thromboembolic arteritis, obesity, diabetes, lupus erythematosus, autoimmune vasculitis… also often accompany hypertension and are pathogens. High blood pressure is also partly due to a lifestyle with little physical activity, increased consumption of alcoholic beverages, increased consumption of processed foods high in sodium, and low intake of vegetables…
Hypertension in young people is often dangerous because most people are subjective and do not monitor indicators regularly, even in the stage of mild hypertension or “pre-hypertension”. Many young people who discover the disease do not go for regular check-ups and treatment, making the disease worse.
In addition, in young people, secondary hypertension, meaning hypertension due to an underlying disease, accounts for a higher proportion than hypertension in older people. This secondary hypertension condition is difficult to control if the cause is not detected.
“Hypertension in young people is both resistant to treatment and easily ignored,” Dr. Nghia said, warning of the risk of causing serious complications that can devastate health, leaving a lot of burden on oneself and one’s family. and society.
Doctors measure blood pressure for people in the community. Image: But Nga
Prolonged hypertension, if not treated thoroughly, will cause many multi-organ complications, even sudden death such as acute myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident (stroke), aortic aneurysm to peripheral arteries. vi, chronic kidney failure, blurred vision, blindness. High blood pressure quadruples the risk of death from stroke and triples the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, compared to people without the disease.
Young people can proactively prevent it by minimizing risk factors for high blood pressure. Specific measures such as exercising at least 30 minutes/day, continuously 5 days/week. You should eat bland food, less than 5g of salt/day, equivalent to two teaspoons. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, limit alcoholic drinks, maintain a reasonable weight, and don’t smoke.
Some cases of high blood pressure are related to family factors. If a family member shows signs of high blood pressure at a young age (< 30-40 years old) or someone carries a gene mutation that causes high blood pressure, you should proactively get screened for the disease.
However, “these are only measures to help reduce the risk of disease, not 100% completely preventable,” Dr. Nghia said and advised young people to listen to their bodies to promptly detect abnormal signs. .