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These figures were presented at a press conference on Thursday by the president of the Lithuanian Heart Association (LSA), a cardiologist and a doctor. Sigita Glaveckaitė.
According to the doctor, arterial hypertension is the variable that, compared to other risk factors, has the greatest impact on global morbidity and mortality in the world. It represents almost 11 million. deaths in the world every year and this is the leading cause of disability.
For these reasons, it is vital to try to change your lifestyle and control your blood pressure.
“We have a lot of evidence that lowering blood pressure is definitely beneficial. Each reduction in systolic blood pressure by a 10-millimeter column of mercury significantly reduces the risk of major cardiovascular events, strokes, and heart failure. Similar data are available for lower blood pressure, ”Assoc said. S. Glaveckaitė.
It is important to measure your blood pressure correctly
The doctor emphasizes that it is very important to measure your blood pressure correctly. List the basic rules: refrain from exercising for at least 30 minutes before measuring, do not eat, do not drink coffee for 30 minutes before measuring, do not smoke, choose a quiet and quiet room, have a comfortable room temperature, do not talk to the measure pressure, lean on the back of the chair, the hand should be relaxed.
Hypertension
The associate professor cautions that before going to the doctor, blood pressure should be measured twice a day for 7 days, in the morning and in the evening. And take the obtained data to the doctor’s office.
“It is also very important to lower blood pressure in a lifestyle and, if prescribed, take the proper medication. The goal of treatment in a person younger than 65 is a blood pressure of less than 130/80 mmHg. If a person is 65 or older, we can reach less than 140/90 mmHg, ”Assoc said. S. Glaveckaitė.
Lowering high blood pressure saves lives by reducing the risk of heart attack, heart failure, arrhythmias, the risk of stroke, slowing the development of dementia, preventing vision loss and kidney failure.
Only 1 in 3 people regularly take the prescription drug.
According to a representative study conducted by Norstat LT in early April this year, involving residents aged 30 and over, it became clear that one in five people aged 40 to 49 in Lithuania takes medication to lower blood pressure. age, as well as that only 1 in 3 respondents who take antihypertensive drugs take them regularly.
Andrius Berūkštis, Doctor of Medical Sciences, affirms that these data show that it is not enough to diagnose the disease. The patient himself must be aware of the dangers of hypertension, that it is up to him to properly control the disease or take another life.
Cholesterolis
A. Berūkštis offers 9 tips on how to improve adherence to the treatment regimen in patients with hypertension:
1. Communication with the patient and their training. It is quite a delicate and complex disease, as many patients do not experience symptoms. When it hurts, we take medicine, but when we don’t feel anything, we often forget or just don’t take medicine. And they need to be drunk for life with high blood pressure. Therefore, the doctor must have time to explain to the patient who needs to take the medicine;
2. Continuity: repeat visits when we know the side effects and the treatment process;
3. Teamwork: involves a doctor, pharmacist, nurse and patient. This significantly improves the treatment of high blood pressure;
4. Report possible side effects: These are often overlooked due to lack of time and fear that the patient will not follow the medication regimen. However, it is recommended that the patient be informed of the most common possible side effects and that a plan be developed for the patient to do so;
5. Availability of the drug;
6. Drug combinations: improve the use of antihypertensive drugs by 24-26%;
7. Dosing once a day: Dosing once a day has been shown to be significantly better;
8. Technologies that can help you remember to take your medications on time.
According to dr. R. Berūkštis, the more time doctors spend educating patients, the better they follow the treatment regimen and the better their blood pressure control.
Tadas Labanauskas, a pharmacist at Gintarinės vaistinė, is happy that according to the survey, up to 9 out of 10 residents know what their blood pressure is. However, only one in two (55%) have their blood pressure checked regularly (at least once a week or more) and one-fifth (19%) do not take medication 1 or more times a week.
“On the one hand, the results are positive, we see that the population is becoming more aware and beginning to realize the importance of checking health indicators. However, more efforts are needed to make blood pressure measurement a daily routine. Inappropriate medication is our main goal; many still do not take the medication at least once a week. The most important thing is that many times this is done deliberately, because the patient feels healthy that day, he thinks that he does not drink liver protectants and is not addicted to medication ”, comments the pharmacist about the results of the study.
According to him, the pharmacy has to listen to patients many myths about drugs to regulate blood pressure. For example, you should only take antihypertensive medications if you experience symptoms, and if you start taking them, you will have to do so for the rest of your life. According to the pharmacist, if we do not change our lifestyle, we will do nothing to improve our health, we will definitely need to take medications for life. However, by changing your lifestyle, you may stop taking medicine after a while.
Another myth is that if you take 3 pills a day, you will damage your liver or stomach. Still, all prescription drugs are needed. Today, drug safety is carefully monitored, so the benefits outweigh the harms.
Another myth is that taking drugs lowers blood pressure too much. According to T. Labanauskas, this may indicate that a person visits the doctor infrequently and does not take medications correctly. If high blood pressure occurs during the week, the treatment should be adjusted.
From March 30 to April 7, Norstat LT surveyed 801 residents ages 30 and older.
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