Introduction
This report deals with the hypertension, a chronic medical condition suffered by million people all over the world. Hypertensives suffer from high blood pressure. This study will examine the disease prevalence level in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the world, paying attention to the various distinct groups of interest. For instance, it highlights the prevalence of hypertension among the urban population comparing it with the level of disease among the rural population. It goes further comparing the same rates between the male and female adults. In addition, the report attempts to state the problems encountered when this problem is unchecked and uninvestigated. Finally, the report gives attention to medical, political and economic solutions available today that can effectively serve to mitigate the problems associated with hypertension.
Background
Hypertension has become a very serious problem following its “silent” impact on its victims (Healthy Aging). As a matter of fact, this disease has no straight symptoms, and one may not be aware of its symptoms until it has fully advanced. Hypertension is called the “silent killer” as far as about one-third of the people suffered from it do not know about it (Healthy Aging).The worst is that this condition results in dangerous threats, such as heart attack, stroke and many other understated problems associated to individual’s memory (Healthy Aging). Consequently, it is vital for everybody to test out his and her blood pressure, if possible, yearly. To do this, one does not need to visit a doctor to check his/her blood pressure as there are simple blood measuring machines a person can buy in many supermarkets that can serve this purpose, if used correctly.
While using this device, one ought to pay attention to the following. Incase the blood pressure is above 120/80 but lower or about 140/100, it can be described as moderately elevated blood pressure. This is not a grave problem in most cases; nevertheless, it can hint a condition of stress or the beginning of arterial disease. On the other hand, if the reading is over 140/100, then it indicates a severe state not caused just by stress as it serves to insinuate a possible problem with the kidneys, arteries or even brain or heart (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute par. 6). In such a case, one is required to retake the blood pressure examination paying attention to the right directions to come out with at least two precise readings. In some cases, an individual is called upon to take the readings from both of his/her arms to get judgment that is more accurate. At this point, it is important to mention that a high reading, regardless if it is taken from both arms or just from one, is a good indicator of a possible problem.
“Essential hypertension” forms over 90 percent of the high blood pressure cases (Types of High Blood Pressure, 2011). This simply means that physician has no clear knowledge of the cause. As a result, majority of holistic and medical doctors just “control” hypertension by means of drugs or the ordinary products like vitamins and herbs (Types of High Blood Pressure, 2011).
The Problem Today
In Saudi Arabia
Following research conducted in the Saudi Arabia between 1995 and 2000 basing on adults aged between 40 and 70 years, the hypertension prevalence has been on the increase (Al-Nozha 170). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of hypertension of 160/95 mmHg, it was found that 9.1% and 8.7% citizens of Saudi Arabia were systolic and diastolic hypertensives. As for children younger than 18 years 12.4% and 7.9% were systolic and diastolic hypertensive. Among adults aged 18 years and above, 5.3% were systolic and 7.3% were diastolic hypertensives; among people aged 40 years and over were 87.5% of systolic and 79.4% of diastolic hypertensives. Women were more susceptible to systolic hypertension compared with men (P < 0.01). If another criterion for hypertension definition is taken into account, when blood pressure is 140/90 mmHg, the results among the latter age groups would be 20.4% for systolic and 25.9% for diastolic hypertension. The prevalence of Isolated Systolic
Hypertension (ISH), Isolated Diastolic Hypertension (IDH) and Systolic Diastolic Hypertension (SDH) among adults above 18 years was 1.8%, 3.8% and 3.5% respectively. ISH was higher among females compared with males (2% vs 1.4%), while IDH was higher among males than females (4.4% vs 3.4%). (Al-Nozha 170)
In other countries
The study of other parts of the world showed a similar trend as that observed in Saudi Arabia. For instance, the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that hypertension affected 30% of the American citizens aged between 20 and 75 years (par. 7). This prevalence trend seems to go up if we consider individuals of older age. As indicated in the findings, 66.7 – 78.5 % of the Americans over 75 years have high hypertension prevalence (tab. 1). It is surprising that hypertension, which is considered a disease that is easily mitigated by having food-balancing plan, caused more than 40 million visits to the doctors in 2006 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention par. 13). Actually, an accurate hair mineral examination shows not only the source of the problem, but also how to reduce the blood pressure through reduce of the physical and emotional causes.
Possible Solutons
Medical
Medical approach in solving the problem of hypertension involves a period that ranges from few months to a year of a dietary balancing program. Here, the time taken to correct the problem purely depends on the exact cause (one’s age, the period it has lasted, the person discipline in following the program and other curative factors which may serve either to slow down or speed up the curative process).
Another possible medical solution is the inclusion of the supplements to the fast oxidizers that serve to provide essential mineral like calcium, copper and magnesium. It is also important for hypertension patients to avoid food that increases oxidation rate. Such meals include excessive vitamin c and much proteins (Al-Njzha, Ali & Osman 170-174).
Economic and political
The ongoing gradient of risk linked to hypertension implies that the benefits reversing the risk will also recur from time to time. In most cases, there is a continuous inverse relationship between individual benefit and the total cost of treating hypertension. Consequently, adoption of proper guidelines to cover the different approaches to this issue is vital. On the other hand, politicians should endeavor to let the medical policies be guided by the reality of the matter rather than the main concern on public perception (Swales 1179-1182). The latter only serves to interfere with the independence of hypertension research, which is critically important to the patients suffering from hypertension.
Conclusion
The prevalence of hypertension has been on an increasing trend in Saudi Arabia, which in turn has influenced negatively almost one fourth of the adult people in the whole country. Following this, insistent management of this disease and check ups of adults to mitigate its damaging results are highly recommended. This will come through public awareness of the simple measures, such as exercise, low salt diet and avoiding obesity; these may serve to maintain the arterial blood pressure at its normal range.
Works Cited
Al-Nozha, Mansour, Ali, Mohamed S. and Ali K. Osman. “Arterial Hypertension in Saudi Arabia.” Annals of Saudi Medicine 17.2 (1997): 170-174. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. High Blood Pressure. 2012. Web.
Healthy Aging. n.d. Web.
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. What Is High Blood Pressure? 2011. Web.
Swales, John. “Hypertension in the Political Arena”. Hypertension. 35 (2000): 1179-1182. American Heart Association. Web.
Types of High Blood Pressure 2011. Web.