High blood pressure is on the rise in poorer countries

 

STATES CHRONICLE – There was a time when high blood pressure was a threat, especially for the wealthy countries. Things have changed and now, according to a new study, it is on the rise in poorer countries too. Let’s find out more why this dramatic change happened and how can we deal with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.

The study was made by a group of researchers from the Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. They analyzed data from hundreds of studies published all over the world and what they discovered may come as a concern for all of us.  They found out not only that high blood pressure rose by more than 8 percents in the past ten years, but also it affected more and more the lower and middle-income countries.

It seems that 32 percent of people suffer from hypertension in poorer countries while in the wealthy nations the percent was 29. Dr. Jiang He said that they knew the hypertension was associated with over-nutrition. The low and middle-income countries have an increasing urbanization. This can lead to stress and low physical activity, major factors for high blood pressure.

Another surprise for the research team was that people are not being aware of the danger hypertension represents. In poorer countries, it is rarely treated as it should be. There are two reasons why this can happen: even people do not have access to effective drugs and health care or they do not pay attention to it.

What is very important to know is that the best treatment for hypertension is prevention. People tend to take drugs when their health is already at risk, rather than have a healthy lifestyle. What should be done in order to prevent high blood pressure? First of all, the authorities must involve more and make healthy food more accessible to people. We all know that fast food is sometimes cheaper and that is why so many people prefer it.  People should be encouraged to have lower calories intake and exercise as often as they can.

Stress is also the main cause of high blood pressure and it is well-known that people do not pay enough attention to the social and psychological factors that can lead to hypertension. However, according to the study, there is a decrease in high blood pressure in wealthy countries.

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