Hypertension – Prevention is better than cure!

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death with an upward trend beyond 30% and a tripling in costs between 2010 and 2030, which places a significant economic burden on public healthcare services worldwide^1,2,3. The most common risk factor for developing CVD is hypertension¹ affecting one billion individuals worldwide⁴. While hypertension is the most “modifiable”¹ risk factor, the challenge posed to the specialists around the world is that it very often remains undetected and symptom-free at an early stage and is only treated when it has already become a long-term disease.

So it is critical for cardiologists around the world to understand the influencing factors for hypertension in order predict or detect early and hopefully prevent this widespread disease.

In a brand new study publication with the Task Force^® Monitor (TFM)in the Journal Nature, Man et al. investigated the essential cardiovascular parameters of five large consanguineous families to find out if hypertension is heritable and if it depends on genetic and/or environmental factors. The study team found “moderate heritability for blood pressure”⁵ and concluded that environmental factors were more significant.

Other TFM studies have also proven that physical activity has a positive impact on the cardiovascular system^4,6,7. Considering that “physical inactivity is now the fourth leading cause of death worldwide”⁸, the correlation seems obvious. O’Driscoll et al. showed that the kind of exercise can influence efficacy as isometric exercise training has a higher positive impact on resting arterial pressure than traditional aerobic and resistance training⁴. Exercise training therefore not only supports the therapy for hypertension patients but also plays an important role as efficient preventive measure.⁶

Specialists have developed quite a number of various risk prediction approaches to identify individuals who are at high risk of developing hypertension “for timely prevention and treatment at an early stage before obvious symptoms happen.”³, as reported by Lin et al. With powerful monitoring tools which are already available on the market, an early detection of cardiovascular risk factors has become possible.

There is evidence that long-term complications of undetected, untreated or ineffectively controlled hypertension can also lead to cerebrovascular diseases, an impairment of the cognitive function and even organ damage. Czuriga‐Kovács et al. showed that early detection and promptly initiated antihypertensive management carried out over a period of one year in 72 patients, resulted in an effective decrease of blood pressure accompanied not only “by a more balanced hemodynamic state”⁹, but also by reversed cognitive changes.⁹

We can conclude from these findings that efficient risk prediction is important for an early detection and timely treatment with preventive measures, which might reverse the implications of hypertension or even avoid its onset. With this knowledge we can contribute to a better cardiovascular health by making the “most common, costly, and preventable CVD risk factor”² an avoidable one. This might finally lead to the efficient reduction of the terrifying number of hypertensive patients and the high cost for health organizations.

> > original article in Healthmanagement Journal