KARACHI: While the country is waiting for a national health survey since 1994, when the last survey was held, the number of people suffering from hypertension has increased far beyond to what was estimated years before because of changing eating behaviours, pollution and worsening law and order situation, especially in Karachi, experts have said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) puts more than 24.3 per cent of Pakistanis above 18 years as being hypertensive.

World hypertension day is observed on 17 May.

High blood pressure — also known as hypertension — increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.

If left uncontrolled, high blood pressure can also cause blindness, irregularities of the heartbeat and heart failure. The risk of developing these complications is higher in the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes.

One in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure.

The last national health survey said the chances of hypertension increases with age, it is 18 per cent in the people between 18 and 39 years of age; 45 per cent among the people of 40 to 54 years; while every second person above the age of 55 suffers from this disease.

However, experts said these figures were obsolete and the situation had aggravated phenomenally in two decades.

“It is a silent killer like diabetes and in most instances it is associated with a diabetic patient,” Dr Zaman Shaikh, an eminent endocrinologist, told Dawn.

The experts said basically central obesity caused hypertension, blood pressure, cholesterol and heart disease, but increasing tension associated with psychological pressures was exacerbating the disease.

“Stress is increasing in the country at large because of worsening law and order situation and economic woes, but in Karachi in particular this problem has gained endemic proportions,” said another expert.

He said the number of people suffering from hypertension in Karachi must be double to what the ratio of patients of this disease from rest of the country.

“There are several studies which suggest that the number of people from all age groups suffering from hypertension has increased to an alarming level,” said Dr Shaikh.

Some of those studies said males were more prone to the lethal condition than females.

A study conducted by S Safdar, A Omair, U. Faisal and H. Hasan of the Jinnah Medical and Dental College’s department of community health sciences found 83 per cent of married participants in the study with hypertension sharply contrasting with the singles whose 17pc were found suffering from it. This trend increased even further among the married poor.

Apart from law and order problem, unhealthy public propensity for junk food and bad eating habits has affected people.

“The rich eats unhealthy food in malls and the poor eats it on footpaths – the junk food and stress send all of them to hospitals,” said an expert.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2016