Cardiologist Urges Regular Check Of Blood Pressure

A consultant cardiologist, Dr Ojji Dike, has recommended regular blood pressure check-up for persons of age 40 and above to prevent hypertension.

Dike, also a physician at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen  in Abuja recently.

He said the failure to carry out regular checks on the blood pressure could have devastating effects.

He, therefore, recommended that medical examinations should be done at least twice a year.

“The problem about hypertension is the fact that most times it is sitting there – that is high blood pressure – without telling you it is there and sometimes people get to know about it when it has done its damage.

“And what are these damages? It can cause Kidney failure, what people call chronic kidney disease; it can make the heart not to function well – what we call heart failure; and it can also cause a stroke or what we call in a medical language cero vascular accident; another thing it can cause is blindness in people, especially when the blood pressure is not controlled.’’

Dike warned that excessive consumption of salt could contribute to the development of hypertension because the body system’s tendency is not to excrete salt easily.

According to him, smoking, excess weight or obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle are factors that can stimulate the development of hypertension.

He, however, explained that hypertension could be hereditary.

The cardiologist said hypertension could be categorised into two – essential or primary hypertension, which could be prevalent among 90 to 95 per cent of people.

Dike, therefore, advised people with hypertension to endeavour to take medication as prescribed by the doctor, saying medications with the potency to control blood pressure were available.

According to him, hypertension is a common disease that can be controlled.