Hypertension, popularly known as “high blood pressure”, is a chronic disease defined by high blood pressure numbers – the pressure that exists within the arteries to facilitate the flow of blood, essential for the heart to beat.
Hypertension occurs when “this pressure, inside the arteries, is very high, overloading the heart at the time of the beat, creating resistance that leads to diseases”, explains the doctor Luiz Bortolotto director of the Hypertension Clinical Unit at InCor.
Bortolotto also uses a metaphor to demonstrate the importance of maintaining a regulated pressure: “If we have a hose connected to a faucet, when we open the faucet, if the hose is made of rubber and this rubber is very elastic, the water will flow, we are going to irrigate our garden in a very easy way. If I have a hose with greater resistance, when I turn on the tap, I won’t irrigate the garden and we won’t have flowers. So, to have flowers, I need to have flow control, then, blood pressure”.
A person is considered hypertensive when he has pressure measurements with values equal to or above 140 x 90 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) or “14 by 9”. Hypertension, its prevention and its various causes are the subject of CNN Vital Signswith Dr Roberto Kalilthis Saturday (2).
the episode “Hypertension: The Silent Evil” bears this title to highlight one of the most dangerous characteristics of the disease: it has few symptoms.
From 20 to 30% of the world’s population have hypertension and, many times, they don’t even know they have the disease. The symptoms only become clear when the individual already has the involvement of important organs such as the brain, kidneys and heart.
Checking blood pressure at least once a year was one of the most important recommendations given by the physicians interviewed in the program, who will teach “a class” on the correct way to use the device.
Dr. Kalil reinforces the direct relationship between hypertension and heart disease: “Hypertension is a silent disease because it has few symptoms. We know that it increases the incidence of heart attacks and strokes, among other attacks on arteries in the body, and we also know that, worldwide, adherence to treatment is poor”.
O CNN Vital Signs will explain that, in addition to the strong genetic component, hypertension suffers social and even demographic influence. Lifestyle is fundamental because the type and quality of food consumed are decisive.
“Low-income families do not always have access to healthy food, fruits, vegetables, and they end up eating foods with a high salt content, they end up not being able to do physical activity, they suffer from the stress of everyday life, the lack of employment, the stress of work, so this ends up generating an increase in the incidence of hypertension”, justifies Dr. Juliana Gil de Moraes cardiologist at the Coronary Unit of Hospital Sírio-Libanês.
Dr. Juliana also draws attention to another serious observation: “The incidence in adolescents is clearly increasing. It is multifactorial, but 17% of hypertension in adolescents is due to obesity. What we have today are diets high in salt, so access to industrialized foods that have a very high salt content, the issue of obesity, the sedentary lifestyle that ended up leaving children very trapped, teenagers very trapped, in addition to access to games and the internet that generated a lot of stress. This increase in stress is a factor that contributes to the increase in incidence, also removing the question of the genetic component.”
See also: Hypertension how to know if I have high blood pressure
The relationship between sleep apnea and hypertension will also be shown. Sleep apnea is a condition in which people, when sleeping, have a narrowing of the air passage in the throat, causing snoring and pauses in breathing. The consequence is a drop in body oxygenation. It is a very common disease in the population and it can occur hundreds of times at night”.
The Surprising Life Story of the Retired Teacher Patricia Moreira is directly linked to hypertension. Patrícia often had a pressure of 29 by 20.
A resident of Rio de Janeiro, her doctor stated that she should be researched and referred her to InCor for treatment. In São Paulo, she was treated by Dr. Bortolotto. The pressure from the teacher was out of control. She was taking more than nine types of medication, and had several ICU admissions due to pressure.
Dr. Bortolotto concluded that the best thing for her would be a “renal denervation” procedure, an interventional treatment that decreases the action of the nerves in the kidneys. This excess of action could cause an increase in pressure, because it increased fluid retention, increased salt retention, and with that the pressure would tend to rise. “Renal denervation” is indicated for patients classified as “refractory”, who have hypertension that is difficult to control and, no matter how many medications they take, they are unable to bring the pressure down to a normal level.
O CNN Vital Signs reveals the result of the intervention and how Patrícia is today. A statement from the teacher marked the episode.
Patrícia says that, right at the first consultation, the doctor from InCor asked: “Patricia, what brought you from so far away?”. She placed a huge pile of tests on the doctor’s desk and said, “Dr. Bortolotto, I came here not to die”.
CNN Vital Signs, with Dr. Roberto Kalil, will air on Saturday (2), at 6:30 pm, on CNN Brasil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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