A study conducted across India found that over 50% of Indian physicians have uncontrolled hypertension or high blood pressure even though they take hypertensive medicines, due to high stress levels.
In India, hypertension is among the most common lifestyle disease. One in three Indian adults suffer from it. The study shows that it’s equally widespread among the medical fraternity as well. But it’s usually misdiagnosed because of the differences in the blood pressure readings at home and in a clinical setting.
The findings
The study unearths some alarming findings:
56% of doctors suffer from irregular BP at night times
21% suffer from masked hypertension- the condition by which a patient’s blood pressure reading is inaccurate because of specific environments
The masked hypertension, in fact is also linked with an increased long-term risk of cardiovascular morbidity and sustained hypertension, says the study.
“Over 50% physicians had uncontrolled hypertension despite taking hypertensive medicines. While 21% of the doctors surveyed had masked hypertension or isolated ambulatory hypertension, another 56% doctors suffered from irregular BP pattern at night making them prone to future adverse cardiac events,” said Indian Medical Association (IMA) President KK Aggarwal.
20,000 readings from 533 doctors were taken as part of the study.
The study’s aim is to spread awareness of the benefits of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring(ABPM). By this, the patient’s BP is evaluated continuously over a 24 hour period- for the timely and right diagnosis of hypertension.
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