More than 4cr people in the country have hypertension: Official data said

Every year, many people in the whole country lose their lives to hypertension, which is becoming more prevalent.

According to official data, there are now more than four million people in the country who are afflicted with the disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines hypertension as having too much blood pressure in your blood vessels. Although it is common, if untreated, it can be dangerous.

"The best way to determine whether you have high blood pressure is to check your blood pressure. Health risks like kidney and heart diseases or stroke may result from untreated hypertension, it was added.

"In our nation, the prevalence of hypertension has been rising. In 2018, it stood at 21%. Right now, it stands at 24.6%. According to Prof. Dr. Robed Amin, line director (NCDC) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), "over four crore people are now suffering from hypertension."

He mentioned that 50% of hypertension patients in the nation don't know for sure if they have the disease at all and that only 50% of patients take medication, of which 40% have their hypertension under control.

"In Bangladesh, hypertension is a major contributor to non-communicable diseases, which also contribute to a number of people's premature deaths. According to Robed Amin, lifestyle modifications like regular exercise and a healthy diet can prevent hypertension.

According to the DGHS official, the main risk factors for hypertension in the nation are an excessive salt intake, unhealthy eating habits, tobacco use, physical inactivity, and mental stress.

According to doctors and hospital sources, the number of hypertension patients has been rising not only in urban or city areas but also in rural areas.

A STEPS Bangladesh 2018 report found that among adults aged 18 and older, 21% (24.1 percent of females and 17.9 percent of females) had hypertension.

According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey from 2017–18, hypertension affected 45% of women and 34% of men in Bangladesh who were 35 years of age or older, compared to 32% of women and 20% of men in the same age group in 2011.

According to the report, Bangladesh had 3 crore hypertension patients in 2020, and by 2030, that number will have increased to 3.8 crore.

According to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, hypertension is one of the top three causes of physical disability and death in Bangladesh.

According to a Save the Children study, hypertension affects nearly 23% of the urban population in the four city corporations of Narayanganj, Cumilla, Mymensingh, and Rangpur.

According to the WHO, more than 5 lakh people in Bangladesh pass away each year from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with hypertension accounting for more than 50% of these deaths.

To prevent and manage non-communicable diseases, the Bangladeshi government has adopted a multi-sectoral action plan for the years 2018–25. The government's goal in the plan is to reduce the prevalence of high blood pressure by 25%.

The NCD control program of the DGHS has established an NCD corner at the level of 299 upazilas and a hypertension screening facility in community clinics in various districts across the nation as part of the effort to reduce and prevent the prevalence of hypertension.

"The NCD corner will soon be established in all 492 upazilas. All public hospitals, medical schools, and upazila health complexes will also have an NCD corner, Robed Amin told the Daily Sun.

Building public awareness of hypertension disease and methods of prevention, according to Prof. Dr. Afzalur Rahman, former director of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), can stop the disease and significantly reduce the number of premature deaths in the nation.

"Hypertension is a chronic illness. Heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, eye damage, and other conditions can all be brought on by hypertension. There is no way to manage hypertension to avoid dying too soon. The government needs to make sure that people with hypertension are identified locally, he continued.

According to the WHO, hypertension affects an estimated 1.28 billion adults worldwide between the ages of 30 and 79, with the majority (two-thirds) residing in low- and middle-income nations.

One of the global non-communicable disease targets, according to the report, is to cut the prevalence of hypertension by 33% between 2010 and 2030.

According to Prof. Dr. Sohel Reza Choudhury of the National Heart Foundation Hospital, "The government has to take some policies like increasing physical activity facilities, to ensure healthy rates of salt and sugar in foods, and to make people aware of the problem for reducing the number of hypertension patients."