Don't Delay: Why catching hypertension early matters

Hypertension, commonly termed “high blood pressure,” is the consistently elevated force of blood against the blood vessel wall. It is diagnosed when the pressure is constantly increased, more than 140/90 mm of Hg. 1 out of 3 adults is hypertensive, but more than half of them do not have symptoms or remain unaware of the condition. The rise in prevalence of the disease is majorly due to diet and lifestyle changes of people, like increased salt intake, high sodium containing “fast-food” consumption, lack of physical activity and exercise, being overweight or obese, increase in mental stress, lack of good quality of sleep, and unchecked alcohol consumption.

Hypertension can have lethal complications if left untreated in the long run, like acute heart attacks, stroke, kidney disease, and other serious health conditions. The constantly elevated blood pressure results in microvascular disease, affecting the small blood vessels and damaging the vital organs being supplied by these, such as the heart, brain, kidney, eye, etc. The early diagnosis by preventive health checks and screening can prevent or reduce the long-term and harmful complications of hypertension.

Reasons why early diagnosis of hypertension is crucial

1. Prevention of long-term complications – The implications of a sustained increase in blood pressure on the human body are well established. The earlier the disease is diagnosed, lesser will be the incidence of long-term effects like cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and strokes.

2. Prevention of end-organ damage – The early detection of high blood pressure and treatment with appropriate antihypertensive medication can save the end organs like the heart, kidney, brain, and eyes from the microvascular complications of sustained high BP. The resulting thickening of the blood vessels causes damage to the arteries, which in turn affects the organs being supplied by the same. Regular health check-ups that include lipid profiles, blood glucose monitoring, kidney function tests, etc, especially in those with a family history of hypertension, go a long way in keeping a check on the organs.

3. Improvement in life span and quality of life – When hypertension is detected early, the life expectancy will be better and there will be improvement in the quality of life, free from complications, and hence avoiding more aggressive diseases later in life, resulting in hospitalisations.

4. Reduction in healthcare cost – The result of hospitalisations in later life, the cost of expensive treatments for the complications can be saved if the diagnosis is made earlier.

5. Increased awareness amongst public – The public health campaigns for early detection of hypertension would go a long way in educating the public about the need for physical activity, better lifestyle management, avoidance of high sodium containing food and reducing stress.

6. Importance of low salt diet – Of all the measures taken to diagnose hypertension early and treat it, consuming a low salt diet seems to be of foremost significance. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a maximum daily sodium intake of 2,000 mg (equivalent to less than 5 grams of salt) for adults.

How can we reduce salt in our diet?

It has been proven by clinical trials that a reduction in salt in the diet reduces the BP by 6 mm of Hg. This can be achieved by avoiding foodstuffs that are generally known to be high in salt content, like pickles, papads, preserved food, canned vegetables, chips, and other highly processed foods. Fast food that is high in taste is also high in sodium content. The taste buds in our tongue slowly get adapted to the lower salt content in food and will automatically adjust to the taste.

There is a general misconception that children need more salt for their growth. Babies less than one year of age require less than 1 g of salt per day in their diet. Another common misconception is that increased sweating in the summer months needs to be replaced with salt, hence, people add salt to juices or buttermilk. Sweat contains very little sodium, and the only thing that needs to be replaced is water. Sweet food stuff like jams, cakes, and bread also contains salt, hence teaching kids and even adults to read food labels before consumption is of great importance. Early diagnosis of hypertension and initiation of treatment give the best results. But prevention is always better than a cure!



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