High blood pressure has emerged as a silent killer that is sneaking on many people without being detected.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 1.28 billion people aged between 30 and 79 years have high blood pressure or hypertension.

The majority of these people, about two thirds, currently live in low and middle income countries. Out of the 1.28 billion people who have hypertension, nearly half of them are not aware that they have this condition.

In Kenya, hypertension or high blood pressure is taken as a major contributor to the high non-communicable (NCD) disease burden in the country and a major cause of stroke, heart failure, kidney failure and coronary artery disease.

A 2020 study that was conducted in Kenya and published in the BMC Public Health Journal, indicated that close to a quarter of all adults in Kenya suffer from high blood pressure.

These are people with a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher. The normal measurement for healthy people is 120/80 mmHg. This research also found out that about one in every two adults in the country has prehypertension.

These are individuals whose blood pleasure is slightly above what is considered normal (140/90 mmHg or higher) but is not high enough to be given a hypertension diagnosis.

What is it?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is a condition in which the blood vessels experience persistently raised pressure.

“Blood is carried from the heart to all parts of the body in the vessels. Each time the heart beats, it pumps blood into the vessels. Blood pressure is created by the force of blood pushing against the walls of blood vessels known as arteries as it is pumped by the heart. The higher the pressure, the harder the heart has to pump,” the WHO states.

This health condition slightly affects more men than women, with data from the WHO showing that one if four men have hypertension while one in five million have hypertension.

Across both genders, only one in five people have high blood pressure under control.

Causes and risk factors

There are certain lifestyle choices that can set you on a collision path with hypertension. The WHO lists some of these risk factors as including unhealthy diets including excessive salt consumption, a diet high in saturated fat and trans fats.

Low intake of fruits and vegetables, and physical inactivity, consumption of tobacco and alcohol, and being overweight or obese.

Obesity  refers to a condition where a person carries excess body weight with a body mass index (BMI) of over 30. Obesity is also considered a risk factor for chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

The Ministry of Health’s 2015 STEPwise survey, found that 27 percent of Kenyans are either overweight or obese. Nearly 40 per cent of these are women while 18 per cent are men.

Similarly, according to a report on obesity in Kenya by the World Obesity Federation (WOF), 8.4 per cent of children aged five to nine or 670, 834 children in Kenya are likely to be obese by 2030.

At the same time, 5.5 per cent of children aged 10 to 19 or 793,121 children in Kenya will be obese by 2030. “In total, 1,463,954 children in Kenya are expected to be obese within the next 10 years,” the report said.

This implies that more people are likely to fall into the jaws of hypertension as instances of lifestyle conditions such as obesity rise. Beyond these risk factors, there are also other risks that are out of the patient’s control.

These include a family history of hypertension, being over 65 years, and having co-existing diseases such as diabetes or kidney disease.

Symptoms

The majority of patients are not aware that they have hypertension. According to the WHO, this is one of reasons why high blood pressure has been classified as a silent killer.

The WHO says that one of the most efficient ways to spot the symptoms and align them with this health condition correctly is by taking high blood pressure tests. In Kenya, nearly all public hospitals provide free high blood pressure tests.

When the symptoms pop up, the WHO says that they will usually include early morning headaches, nosebleeds, irregular heart rhythms, vision changes, and buzzing in the ears.

Severe hypertension can cause fatigue, nausea, vomiting, confusion, anxiety, chest pain, and muscle tremors.

How you can easily prevent or cope with high blood pressure

Complications

There are various complications that accompany high blood pressure. These complications tend to manifest themselves where high blood pressure is not monitored by a medical professional and the correct control measures recommended and implemented.

For instance, cites the World Health Organization, your heart might suffer serious damage that can put you at risk of aggravated cardiovascular disease or even death.

“Excessive pressure can harden arteries, decreasing the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart,” states the WHO. The global health body says that when this happens, the patient might have complications including chest pain, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, and stroke.

A patient with high blood pressure might also be at risk of getting kidney problems.

“A will occur when the blood supply to the heart is blocked and heart muscle cells die from lack of oxygen. The longer the blood flow is blocked, the greater the damage to the heart,” cites the WHO.

“A heart failure will occur when the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to other vital body organs. A stroke will occur when arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the brain get blocked or burst.”