High Blood Pressure is Fatal if Left Untreated

High blood pressure is called the ‘silent killer’ because it causes severe, life-threatening complications without warning. That is why it is important to detect it in time and treat it immediately.

High blood pressure is the most widespread non-communicable disease today, and more than two billion people in the world have this serious health problem. Every second resident suffers from high blood pressure in Serbia.

‘Measured values of systolic pressure ≥ 140 mm Hg, or diastolic pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg are considered high blood pressure. Arterial hypertension is a disease that occurs with a small number of symptoms, or they are completely absent. Headache is the most common symptom, and ringing in the ears, dizziness, unsteadiness while walking, and visual disturbances may also occur.

High blood pressure is an insidious disease and can develop unnoticed for years until the moment it causes severe systemic damage in the body, such as heart disease, stroke, aneurysmal diseases, visual impairment, kidney failure, etc’, warns Danijela Stanišić-Srdić, MD specialist in clinical pharmacology and director of the Rx portfolio for the Western Balkans, Hemofarm – STADA.

Undeveloped awareness of preventive controls makes the situation more difficult. Data from 54 coronary units from the territory of Serbia indicate that more than 40% of patients who experienced a heart attack only then found out that they had high blood pressure.

‘Untreated arterial hypertension is the most significant risk factor for premature death and disability. That is why it is important to detect the disease in time and treat it immediately. Otherwise, any untreated or unregulated hypertension causes complications that reduce the patient's ability to work and inevitably shorten his life span’, warns our interlocutor.

High blood pressure severely damages blood vessels. As many as 54% of strokes and 2/3 of heart attacks are the result of untreated high blood pressure.

‘One of the most common complications of arterial hypertension is hypertrophy of the heart muscle, which leads to heart failure, a serious disease from which 85% of patients die within the first five years. The consequences of untreated high blood pressure are serious damage to vision, as well as kidney failure. In every fourth dialysis patient, kidney failure occurred because high blood pressure was not detected in time or was not effectively treated’, explains Stanišić-Srdić, MD.

Medicines that mean life

Severe consequences of high blood pressure can be successfully prevented today. The pharmaceutical industry is developing highly effective antihypertensive medicines with which one can live to a very old age. Despite this, due to insufficient health education, in Serbia as many as 1/3 of patients diagnosed with high blood pressure do not use therapy or take it only occasionally.

‘Non-pharmacological measures and medicines are used in the treatment of arterial hypertension. Non-pharmacological measures refer to changes in diet, primarily lower salt intake, smoking cessation, reduction of increased body weight and dosed physical activity. Medicines for the treatment of hypertension work through different mechanisms, and the choice of medicine depends on the presence of comorbidities, side effects, etc. For this reason, only a doctor will prescribe an adequate antihypertensive medicine’, said our interlocutor.

Doctors in Serbia invest great efforts everyday to educate the patients that it is necessary to take the therapy on a regular basis.

‘Modern treatment of arterial hypertension has greatly reduced mortality from this disease. The latest world studies confirm that the risk of stroke is reduced by 38%, of heart failure by 54%, and total mortality is reduced by 20%. Therefore, the severe consequences of high blood pressure can only be prevented by regularly taking the therapy prescribed by your doctor. Medicines must be taken daily and for life, with regular medical check-ups’, says Danijela Stanišić-Srdić, MD from Hemofarm.

The incidence of high blood pressure has been greatly expanding during the last decade, which is significantly contributed by a stressful lifestyle, insufficient exercise, smoking, excessive intake of salt, coffee, and alcohol. However, the exact cause of this disease has not been determined.

‘The cause in a small percentage, only 1-2%, can be a hormonal disorder or taking birth control pills. In 5-10% of patients, the cause is kidney disease. But, in 90% of people, the cause is unknown and that condition is called essential or primary hypertension’, says Stanišić-Srdić, MD.