Bernama
Kuala Lumpur
Wednesday 7 July 2010

High blood pressure affects over a billion people globally currently and the number is expected to rise to 1.56 billion people by 2025.

It is a condition that often does not display signs or symptoms, hence it is commonly referred to as a "silent killer". For this reason, many people are not aware that they have this condition until they visit a doctor.

Hypertension, or elevated blood pressure, indicates that the heart is working harder than normal, putting both the heart and the arteries under a greater strain.

The Malaysian Society of Hypertension classifies hypertension as a conditon where the systolic pressure is greater than 140 mmHg or the diastolic pressure greater than 90 mmHg. Typically, three separate abnormally high readings over a few weeks is necessary to diagnosis this condition.

High blood pressure contributes to heart attacks, strokes, renal failure and atherosclerosis. If the condition is left untreated or unmanaged, the heart may have to work harder to pump enough blood and oxygen to the body's organs and tissues to meet their needs.

Four of every ten Malaysian adults affected

In Malaysia, four out of ten adults suffer from high blood pressure with only 26% of the affected people having their blood pressure under control.

The direct and indirect costs of treating high blood pressure were estimated at RM2,719 and RM7,511 respectively per patient in 2009.

In addition, up to 85% patients may need multiple medications to help control their blood pressure, underscoring the need for more effective combination treatments. It is clearly a major public health problem.

"As doctors, this is our biggest challenge -- getting blood pressure under control in the first place and then keeping it there," National Heart Association of Malaysia president Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian said during a recent media briefing.

Sim, a consultant cardiologist, said the situation creates a strong need for new high blood pressure therapies.

Controlling hypertension

Hypertension needs to be controlled throughout a person's life and can be managed by making certain lifestyle modification or with drug therapy. Simple lifestyle changes can help in effectively managing blood pressure levels such as losing weight, reducing salt intake and alcohol consumption, regular exercise and giving up smoking.

No one should take for granted on this condition as the symptoms are often not obvious. Those who are older and have a family history of hypertension should take precaution.

Patients with unusually high blood pressure may experience dull headaches, dizzy spells or a few more nosebleeds than normal. However, these signs and symptoms typically do not occur until high blood pressure has reached an advanced life-threatening stage.

Drug therapy

People with hypertension now among others have the option of treating the disease with Rasilez (aliskiren) - a medicine that can reduce high blood pressure consistently over 24 hours. This is an important treatment consideration, because some high blood pressure medicines fail to work around the clock, especially during the early morning hours when blood pressure often surges.

According to Novartis Corporation (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Avinash Potnis, patients see better results with 91% blood pressure efficacy even after missing a dose.

It works by inhibiting the RAAS (renin angiotensin aldosterone system), a major innovation in treating high blood pressure for more than a decade.

"Novartis is proud to bring this important new medicine to fight against this damaging and rapidly increasing disease," he said.