Por Miriam Velázquez 
Classified as silent and very dangerous, arterial hypertension is the most prevalent non-communicable disease worldwide. It behaves in the same way in Cuba and, particularly, in Matanzas.
It is the chronic increase in blood pressure. A condition that is asymptomatic for a long time, capable of triggering severe complications.
Among other ills, it can be the cause of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular disorders and kidney failure.
Research carried out in the country reveals that our province has the highest number of patients dispensed by the Family Doctor. That 169 thousand 415 people from this territory appear in this category, means that 37 out of every hundred Matanzas are hypertensive.
A DISEASE THAT HAS NO CURE
The figures are higher if one takes into account those who carry the disease without knowing it. This is confirmed by Dr. Elizabeth Oliva Correa, head of the Department of non-communicable diseases of the Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology.
Since 1998, Cuba has developed a program directed specifically at arterial hypertension, since in addition to its own action as a disease it represents a risk factor for others, including the main causes of death in the nation.
Its fundamental objective is to stabilize those diagnosed, that their minimum (diastolic) pressure is below 90 and the maximum (systolic) of 140. This will avoid complications.
It is a lifelong condition, although it is worth pointing out that a person declares himself hypertensive when, after taking his blood pressure under appropriate conditions for three days, it is elevated.
Arterial hypertension has an unknown origin in most cases and in a very small percentage it is due to physical causes. And although it has almost no cure, it can be controlled.
Following regular treatment for life will have a favorable impact, but experience shows that this is not always the case.
Atenolol, Captopril, Chlortalidone, Enalapril, Hydrochlorothiazide, Methyldopa and Nifedipine are the most widely used drugs which, of course, are indicated as required by the patient.
Many times the cycle is neglected, either due to rejection due to the appearance of certain symptoms, or because due to the shortage of medicines that the country is going through, patients try to space out the doses more so that they do not run out of medicines.
To solve this situation, explains the specialist, «a clinical trial is being carried out in Cienfuegos with a drug called Lisinopril, which reaches a maximum dose in the body for 24 hours, different, for example, from Captopril, which only lasts for eight hours, so the patient needs to take three tablets in one day.”
The first consequences of high blood pressure are suffered by the arteries, which harden as they endure high blood pressure continuously, they become thicker and this makes it difficult for blood to pass through them. Hence, with advancing age the body is more vulnerable.
Matanzas, argues the doctor, «is the territory with the highest rates of mortality from cardiovascular diseases and among the concomitant factors that lead to this is arterial hypertension.»
Hence, he adds, «we are involved in the active search for hypertensive patients in the workplace, in the communities, in order to change their lifestyle.»
It is important to comply with hygienic-dietary measures, including maintaining adequate body weight, not smoking or abusing the consumption of salt, not drinking more than 15 milliliters of alcohol, performing physical exercises and maintaining a healthy diet, as well as timely and systematic attendance to the doctor.
DAY TO REFLECT
The disease was first alluded to in 1677, but it was not until 1761 that Stephen Hales, an English chemist and naturalist, made an intravascular measurement of blood pressure.
To do this, he introduced a capsule into the vein of the neck of a horse, observed the height reached by the blood in it and the force that it exerted on the wall of the artery.
Fifty years later, Poiseuille modified Hales’s tube to resemble a V, and placed mercury inside it. Then in 1834, a French doctor designed equipment in the form of a column, but all these measurements were intra-arterial.
In 1836, Riva Rocci created the pneumatic cuff for compression of the artery wall, thus beginning the measurement of blood pressure in certain patients. Since the first decade of the last century, this measurement has become an integral part of the physical examination of the patient.
World High Blood Pressure Day is celebrated every year on May 17 and as a result of the date each municipality in the Matanzas territory develops a program of activities directed, fundamentally, at the dissemination of the disease.
Matanzas was the first province to initiate scientific, educational and prevention actions in the Conference for the World Day of Arterial Hypertension#Prosalud pic.twitter.com/nCHlrSN21O
These are information and education actions in public spaces, care and work centers, while massive investigations are carried out and blood pressure measurements are taken from users of health institutions and workers. Scientific conferences and conferences with specialists are also held.
Oliva Correa specifies that on this occasion the central activities in the Yumurino municipality will take place in the Carlos Verdugo polyclinic, in the neo-Poblana neighborhood. (ALH)
Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon