How to Deal With Hypertension

Blood Pressure Smart Watch

May 17 is the world hypertension Day, according to statistics, there are nearly 70% of people with hypertension in China do not know that they suffer from hypertension, so the national cardiovascular disease Center assistant director, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Fuwai Hospital Jiang Lixin on hypertension for everyone to do science introduction.


High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular disease


According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease kills about 17 million people worldwide each year, about a third of all deaths, and 80 percent of those deaths occur in low - and middle-income countries. Of those cardiovascular deaths, 9.4 million were due to complications from high blood pressure, which accounted for at least 45 percent of heart disease deaths and 51 percent of strokes. Hypertension has become one of the highest disease burdens in the world.

Hypertension is also an important public health problem in our country, bringing a heavy burden of disease and economic burden to society and families.

Currently, the number of people suffering from hypertension is 270 million. The direct economic burden of hypertension accounts for 6.6% of the total health expenditure in China. Since 2014, the "Early Screening and Comprehensive Intervention Project for High-risk Groups of cardiovascular Disease", a local health and family planning project approved by the Ministry of Finance and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, aims to screen out high-risk groups of cardiovascular disease in the community and conduct intervention and management in advance to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in the future. Since the program was implemented in 2014, it has covered 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country. By June 2017, it had screened more than 1.7 million urban and rural community residents aged 35 to 75, which is the largest study on hypertension screening in China at present. The detection rate of hypertension is 37%. Awareness rate, treatment rate and control rate were 36%, 23% and 6% respectively. That means a third of patients know they have high blood pressure, fewer than a quarter receive medication, and only 6% have it under control. Therefore, our hypertension management is very worrying, the task of hypertension management is still a long way to go.

The prevention and treatment of hypertension should pay attention,


Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases.

Many people suffer from hypertension only occasionally feel headache, dizziness, and may even have no symptoms, so they do not pay attention to the treatment of hypertension. But in fact, the most terrible harm of hypertension is the damage it causes to important organs -- long-term hypertension may cause heart disease, stroke, renal failure, fundus lesions and even blindness, seriously affect the quality of life, and even threaten life. Data showed that 69% of patients with myocardial infarction had high blood pressure; 77% of stroke patients had high blood pressure; Seventy-four percent of those who develop heart failure have high blood pressure, which can also lead to an increased risk of serious arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation. Therefore, hypertension is one of the important risk factors of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. If we do not actively prevent and control it, there will be endless future problems!


Prevention of hypertension is the key


High blood pressure is very dangerous, but it can be prevented and controlled.The first is prevention, which means early screening and diagnosis. Blood pressure should be tested regularly after age 35. Some people may suffer from higher risk of hypertension, such as obesity, lack of physical activity, long-term high salt, high fat diet, smoking and drinking, work pressure or emotional tension, a family history of hypertension, such patients should pay more attention to regular blood pressure detection, over 35 years of age measured once a year. That is to improve the "awareness rate" of hypertension, in order to cause enough attention, early diagnosis, early treatment, nip in the bud.

The second is "control", that is, strictly control the blood pressure level of hypertension patients. Studies have shown that antihypertensive therapy can reduce the risk of heart failure by more than 50%, stroke by 35-40%, and myocardial infarction by 20-25%. Therefore, antihypertensive therapy is one of the most effective means to reduce the harm of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Of course, antihypertensive treatment is not only about taking medicine, but also about whether the drugs taken can effectively control blood pressure. That is to say, doctors will mention that blood pressure should be "up to the standard". Generally, we believe that patients with hypertension should control their blood pressure by: Systolic blood pressure below 140mmHg and diastolic blood pressure below 90mmHg. If the patient is older, such as over 80 years old, the systolic blood pressure can be relaxed to below 150mmHg. In short, the treatment should reach the standard to ensure long-term stable blood pressure, in order to better improve the prognosis.


Misconceptions about taking medicine

Misunderstanding one:

medicine three points poison, drugs "hurt the liver" "hurt the kidney", can not eat do not eat, can eat less eat


All drugs must go through a series of clinical trials before they are officially marketed, and their safety and efficacy can be fully observed in healthy people and patients. Do not be "alarmed" by the adverse reactions listed on the drug label. The drug is allowed to be marketed as safe with minimal or very low incidence of adverse reactions in the human body. For example, any adverse reaction in 10,000 people will be recorded in the instructions, but the probability of it happening is very low. Drugs need to be metabolized out of the body through the liver or kidney, but they are not harmful to the liver or kidney and cannot be taken. Patients with diseases have existing problems in the liver or kidney, and doctors will choose drugs according to the characteristics of the drugs and the liver and kidney conditions of the patients. And can not be afraid of damage to the liver and kidney and refuse to take medicine. For example, for some patients with chronic renal insufficiency, taking certain antihypertensive drugs has a protective effect on kidney function. On the other hand, the harm of taking hypertension drugs caused by adverse reactions is far less than that of not taking hypertension drugs caused by myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction and other hazards. Therefore, it is recommended that patients take antihypertensive drugs regularly according to the doctor's advice, inform the doctor in time when possible adverse drug reactions occur, adjust the drug use, and avoid stopping the drug automatically.

Misunderstanding two:

have symptoms to take medicine, or take medicine without symptoms do not monitor blood pressure

Some patients take antihypertensive drugs only when they have symptoms such as headache and dizziness, and stop taking them once the symptoms disappear. Others are able to stick to long-term medication, but after taking a drug they hardly ever monitor it, thinking that as long as they take the medicine and don't feel dizzy, they will be fine. That's not true either.

1, hypertension is known as the "silent killer", because most patients have no symptoms, but high blood pressure, the harm to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular is persistent, still need active treatment, can not decide whether to take medicine according to the symptoms. One of the treatment principles of hypertension is long-term stable blood pressure reduction, if a while to take medicine and do not eat, resulting in large fluctuations in blood pressure, extremely unfavorable to patients. Therefore, it is recommended that long-acting drugs be preferred to ensure that there is a certain concentration of drugs in the body 24 hours a day, so that blood pressure can be controlled smoothly. However, long-acting drugs are usually more expensive. If economic conditions do not allow, some cheap mid-acting drugs can also play a role, such as: nirendipine and atenolol combined, one tablet in the morning and evening, can also reduce blood pressure stably, effectively cover the morning (6-10 o 'clock) peak blood pressure area, reduce the risk of complications.

2, as long as taking medicine, no symptoms will not be monitored, may not reach the standard of blood pressure. It should be based on the standard of blood pressure reduction. Only when the blood pressure is controlled below 140/90mmHg (below 150/90mmHg for those over 80 years old) can the risk of complications be truly reduced. Therefore, we should monitor blood pressure regularly and adjust medication in time.

Misunderstanding three:

Fear of taking high blood pressure medication for the rest of your life


Hypertension medication is indeed long-term, unless there is a clear cause of hypertension (such as renal vessel stenosis), essential hypertension cannot be cured, lifelong medication, blood pressure control at the ideal level, minimize the possibility of complications, is the best treatment. This is not "drug dependence", but high blood pressure should adhere to long-term treatment. But it is not a day can not stop, for example, hot weather in summer, vasodilation, coupled with a lot of sweating, blood volume decline, blood pressure level may be appropriately reduced, antihypertensive drugs can be reduced or stopped for a period of time according to the blood pressure level, cold weather in winter, blood vessel constriction, blood pressure rise, to timely increase the drug. Therefore, we should pay attention to monitoring blood pressure and see the doctor regularly to adjust the medication.


Misunderstanding four:

 

Blood pressure rises suddenly, and short-acting antihypertensive drugs such as Xintongding are taken under the tongue


Some patients will be very nervous when there is an occasional sudden rise in blood pressure, such as systolic blood pressure exceeding 200mmHg, and they often hope to take rapid antihypertensive drugs to bring down blood pressure as soon as possible, such as nifedipine tablets under the tongue (heart-tingling). In fact, this may be dangerous for patients and should be contraindicated. The reason is that when sublingual ingestion is taken, the drug is directly absorbed into the blood through the sublingual vein, and the concentration of blood drug increases rapidly, which may lead to a sharp decline in blood pressure in a short time. Some patients may have symptoms such as insufficient blood supply to the brain, such as sudden fainting, which is very dangerous. In addition, the majority of patients should be reminded to seek medical attention as soon as possible when there is a sudden and sharp rise in blood pressure, especially when accompanied by obvious symptoms, because if combined with different diseases, the antihypertensive treatment strategy is not the same, and it is not safe to use drugs at home.

blood pressure smart watch

With the development of science and technology, there are smart watches that can accurately measure blood pressure, so that you can measure blood pressure anytime and anywhere, which is also a good preventive measure