Hyderabad could earn India’s hypertension capital tag

HYDERABAD: A study comprising 5,000 patients across the city — touted to be the largest such survey conducted so far — hints at Hyderabad fast becoming India’s hypertension capital. According to its findings, the city saw a rapid rise in cases of hypertension post Covid-19, especially among the younger lot, with numbers jumping from 24% to 40%.

Released by Telangana’s health minister, T Harish Rao on Tuesday – on the occasion of World Hypertension Day — the study was conducted by a corporate hospital in association with the Cardiological Survey of India and involved patients between 25 and 50 years of age.
Speaking at the event, the minister said that the results of the survey are not just surprising but also distressing. “A similar survey done at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences by the state government had revealed that 60% of kidney patients also have hypertension, thus establishing a strong correlation between the two. If diabetes and hypertension are not detected early and care isn’t taken, the disease can become fatal,” he said, reiterating how the problem of hypertension has grown significantly post Covid-19.
The results show that just 19.5% of the surveyed population was normal, 39.8% was pre-hypertensive and 40.7% had hypertension. Interestingly, 75% of the population admitted to consuming unhealthy diet on a regular basis. “This problem is on the rise due to lifestyle changes. People are under extreme stress and are neglecting their health. Also, with no exercise and drastic changes in dietary habits, it has accelerated now,” said the minister.
Other factors like job loss stress, financial loss stress too has added to the spiralling numbers said Dr Sai Sudhakar, joint secretary, Cardiological Society of India - Telangana Chapter. “The average BMI was found to be more than 24 (overweight) in 70% of the population which could also be the one of the major causes,” he said. Dr Sudhakar explained how sudden cardiac arrests were found to be on the rise post Covid-19, which prompted the survey.
“We witnessed sudden deaths of a lot of significant people like CEOs, actors, politicians, sportspersons during and after the pandemic. That’s when we decided to find out how the pandemic impacted the prevalence of the disease,” said Dr Riyaz Khan, Cluster COO, Gleneagles Global Hospitals (Hyderabad) that led the survey. He added: “It also showed how Hyderabad which earlier had an average of 25% diabetic patients now has 33%. ”