Hypertension - a silent killer

< Back to previous page Updated on August 20th 2019

The largest non-infectious disease of contemporary humanity is hypertension. It is a condition of persistent elevated blood pressure in people over 18 years of age, with values over 140/90 mmHg.

Hypertension almost never acts independently but it is associated with other risk factors and is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, above all for coronary disease. High cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, stress and smoking are risk factors, but all aside, if hypertension by itself lasts for a long time, this significantly accelerates the development of atherosclerosis and hence the cardiovascular risk.

Hypertension is an insidious disease, often asymptomatic for a long time, so the first symptoms like headaches, buzzing, fainting, and nasal bleeding occur when there are already permanent damages in blood vessels of the heart, brain, eyes, kidneys or peripheral blood vessels. The most important factor in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases is the control of elevated blood pressure if we have in mind that 70% of people with hypertension do not have a control over the disease, and that more than half of them do not even know they have hypertension. Therefore, diagnostic procedures and regular checkups are necessary.

The earliest changes in the heart muscle are revealed by the basic diagnostic methods that comprise ECG, ultrasound of the heart, and a Fundus examination of the eye that gives us an insight into the condition of the blood vessels of the entire body. Also, an ultrasound of the kidneys, Doppler ultrasound of the renal arteries and ultrasound of the abdomen - aorta could be performed. We advise our patients to report to the doctor in a timely manner especially if they have some of the risk factors or above mentioned problems.

Early diagnostics, timely therapy, and regular checkups are essential for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and they form the basis for good health. Therefore, we suggest to all persons over 18 to have a preventive cardiology examination with an ECG and ultrasound of the heart.