October 8 has been named as “National Hypertension Day.” Hypertension is a key factor leading to some fatal illnesses including stroke, coronary heart disease, renal failure, life ventricular hypertrophy, arrhythmia, arteriosclerosis and sudden death.
According to public health departments, more than 100 million Chinese suffer from hypertension, a figure which is increasing by around 3 million per year. Five million people suffer strokes, increasing by 1.5 million annually. Around 200,000 people die from stokes each year, of which 76 percent have a history of hypertension. Further, of the 10 million people who suffer from coronary heart disease, 65 percent have a hypertensive past.
Professor Zhu Liguang, from Guangxi Medical University, said hypertension is the most common cardio vascular disease. Although there exists a high incidence of the disease and a soaring mortality rate, people are generally unaware of the threats posed by hypertension, an ailment which is still poorly understood and controlled even by modern medicine.
During a forum on “How to Control Hypertension in Asia-Pacific Areas,” a Royal British academic said in his report that 50 percent of hypertension patients are undiagnosed, and half of those who have been diagnosed are untreated. Of those people who are treated only half have the condition under control. The rate in China is even less, where only 5 percent of hypertension patients have their condition under control.
Hypertension can be categorized by pathogenesis according to its primary and secondary affects. The hypertension most frequently talked about is the primary form of the disease which is caused by genetic and environmental factors including an extended history of neural tension, hyper emotions, familial history, lack of exercise, excessive salt intake, too much alcohol and smoking. These factors may lead to neural and incretion disorders, subcutaneous vascular diastole failure, increased resistance from small arteries and high levels of blood circulation.
The Chinese government has shown great concern over the hypertension problem. In 1987, the Ministry of Health formed a leading group to set up a research facility to design a ten year plan for preventing and curing the disease. In order to publicize the issues surrounding hypertension, the ministry decided to name October 8 National Hypertension Day back in 1998.
(china.org.cn by Li Liangdu, October 17, 2002)
