Health Alert: Hypertension silently threatening future of young Nigerians −Experts

*Consultant cardiologists express concern over the increasing number of Nigerian young adults in their 30s being diagnosed with hypertension in recent times, urging them to embrace preventive measures and lifestyle changes for a healthy life

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

Against the backdrop of a recent rise in hypertensive cases, health experts have raised concerns over the alarming increase in the number of Nigerian young adults in their 30s being diagnosed with hypertension.

ConsumerConnect gathered Dr. Adisa Adams, a consultant cardiologist, who is of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, in Lagos State, stated this in a recent interview with health experts on the condition by the News Agency of Nigeria.

The health expert described the health condition among the young population of Nigerians as a threat to their lives and future.

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In regard to the rising hypertensive cases among young adults in the West African country, report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) also showed about 1.3 billion adults globally live with hypertension, with nearly half unaware of their condition while only one in five achieving controlled Blood Pressure (BP).

In Nigeria, the health situation is dire, as studies indicated that approximately 25 percent of emergency hospital admissions in urban areas stemmed from hypertension-related complications, including stroke, kidney failure, and heart attacks, report stated.

Describing hypertension as a “silent killer”, Dr. Adams further decried that it is now a commonplace condition among young people unlike before when basically old people of 50 years and above used to be hypertensive.

The consultant cardiologist said the death of several youngest Nigerians could be linked to heart-related challenges caused by undetected and unmanaged hypertension.

“There have been instances of young Nigerians dying with cardiovascular/heart-related diseases.

“In my earlier years of practice, high blood pressure is mostly an issue of the mature and old folk starting from 50 years, but now we see 28 to 35-year-old hypertensive patients,” he explained.

Some factors causing rise in hypertensive cases

Adams, who decried the rate of sudden deaths among Nigerian young adults, blamed the development on young life mentality syndrome and lack of preventive measures among the younger people.

He affirmed that lack of proper information and education about the disease constituted part of the contributing factors.

The expert stated: “The first issue with the younger generation is the false and unwise belief that they are young and thus, do not need to regularly check themselves.

“The second is the fact that they are not taking preventive measures, well as lack of public information and sensitisation about the dangers associated with hypertension and even low blood pressure.”

What Nigerians should do for healthy life

Highlighting certain practical measures to prevent hypertension, Dr. Adams urged Nigerian young adults should embrace preventive measures and lifestyle changes that could help them to live healthy life with a view to controlling the prevalence of hypertension in the healthcare ecosystem in Nigeria.

He equally advised Nigerians to imbibe the culture of going for medical checkups from the age of 28, as absence of symptoms did not mean it wasn’t present.

Adams explained: “We have had some cases of young men dying of cardiac arrest during a tennis match, while jogging, and even as they went to bed.

“This could have been prevented if they knew they had heart problems.

“When you do a comprehensive health assessment, abnormalities in the body may be detected and corrected.”

Similarly, Dr. Ramon Moronkola, also a consultant cardiologist, in his contribution regarding the prevalence of the health condition said that sudden emotional surge either extreme excitement or sadness could put a lot of pressure on the cardiovascular system of an individual.

Moronkola, who works with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), in Ikeja, the state capital, explained that underlying untreated cardiovascular health conditions could trigger causes that might lead to sudden death of an individual.

The consultant cardiologist also opined that if this individual has no underlying morbidity – that’s, the heart is fine, the vessels are okay, usually, it doesn’t cause much problem.

However, in a situation in which the individual already has some malfunctions in the system, it can result in sudden cardiac attack.

Dr. Moronkola further explained: “There are situations where people die suddenly during emotional surge, because that’s definitely what happened. In that situation, it can happen when an individual is extremely happy or grieved.

“Similarly, during football match, people are really tensed, there are a lot of emotional commitment/assertion; this may put a lot of pressure on individual’s cardiovascular system.”

The expert added: “If such individual has no underlying health conditions, it usually doesn’t cause problem, but in a situation that such individual has underlying cardiovascular disease, maybe the person is hypertensive or diabetic and he doesn’t or he knows, but not managing it well

“With the underlying cardiovascular diseases and the person is exposed to emotional surge, he/she can develop heart attack or heart failure and die.”

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