“Screening remains the only way to prevent complications from high blood pressure, through periodic blood pressure measurements using ambulatory blood pressure measurement (MAPA)”, said Pr Hammoudi at the APS, on the sidelines of the 17th international congress devoted to this pathology and organized by SAHA.
Referring to international recommendations on the subject, the specialist, moreover, head of the cardiology service at the EHS Maouche (ex-CNMS), recommended taking blood pressure every five (05) years for healthy subjects and a taken annually for those with “normal high” blood pressure.
While warning of “hidden tensions”, she said that a “significant” proportion of patients suffering from this pathology are “unknown”, recalling that the latter has been qualified as “silent killer”, precisely because complications it induces on health.
Pr Hammoudi also stressed the “frequency” of the disease in Algeria, the prevalence of which is more than 23% according to a recent study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), on a sample of 1,165 subjects. The study, she said, found that half of them “didn’t know” that they had high blood pressure.
“Beyond the figures, it is a question of treating patients as a whole in order to avoid complications because high blood pressure is often associated with diabetes, dyslipidemia, etc.”, she observed, recommending the use of MAPA which allows a “better measurement” of blood pressure, since it is performed for 24 hours.
In addition, the president of SAHA recalled that arterial hypertension, common in both men and women, is a pathology that “increases with age”, advocating, as a preventive measure, “dietary precautions”, reducing salt in the diet, as well as physical activity.
“This study also demonstrated that 23% of people suffering from high blood pressure are sedentary,” she added, before pleading for “that each family has a quality blood pressure monitor, in order to be checked regularly” . (APS)
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