Over 25 percent of Saudis have hypertension (high blood pressure), with more than half of them unaware they have the life-threatening disease, according to statistics issued by King Saud University for Health Sciences.
The university also warned that an estimated 49.5 percent of the Kingdom’s total population would have the disease by 2025.
Next week King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Dammam will launch an awareness campaign at Al-Rashed Mall about the dangers and treatment of hypertension, to coincide with an international campaign on World Health Day. Visitors can get free blood pressure tests and advice on proper nutrition.
Consultant cardiologist at the hospital, Dr. Mohamed Al-Kharasani, said there was an increasing incidence of hypertension disease in the Kingdom. “The person may not know he or she is suffering from high blood pressure, because there are rarely any symptoms indicating a problem.”
Al-Kharasani said there are two types of high blood pressure. The first and most common includes about 95 percent of all cases, caused by unknown reasons. The second type is a side effect of known reasons, such as kidney disease, certain endocrine diseases, shortness of the aorta, some neurological diseases, eclampsia disease, obstructed breathing during sleep syndrome, some cortisone-based medicines, birth control pills, and some immunosuppressive drugs.
Al-Kharasani described high blood pressure as “a serious condition because it can harm the cardiovascular system, including the blood vessels, the heart, brain, eyes and kidneys.” It is difficult to treat at an advanced stage, he added.
“The greatest risk of high blood pressure is a heart attack, which may lead to sudden death, or an ischemic crisis such as bleeding in the brain as a result of the explosion of an infected artery in the brain, or the occurrence of a stroke.”