Hypertension is rapidly rejuvenating
Prof. Dr. Pham Manh Hung - Director of the Institute of Cardiology, 19-8 Hospital and Vice President of the Vietnam Heart Association - shared at the program to respond to World Hypertension Day 2026, attracting nearly 400 people to be measured blood pressure and given free health advice: It is not that just increasing the dose of medicine will reduce blood pressure. There are patients who take a lot of medicine but their blood pressure is still high because behind it may be a latent disease that has not been detected.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are currently about 1.3-1.4 billion people worldwide with high blood pressure. However, nearly half of patients do not know they have the disease and only about 20% effectively control blood pressure.
In Vietnam, the rate of high blood pressure in adults currently fluctuates around 25-30%, equivalent to tens of millions of people with the disease. Worryingly, the disease is tending to rejuvenate due to lack of exercise, prolonged stress, salt intake, obesity and alcohol abuse.
Prof. Dr. Pham Manh Hung added: High blood pressure is the leading cause of stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, chronic kidney failure and premature death. Because the disease often progresses silently, it is called a "silent killer".
Why is blood pressure still high after taking many medications?
Professor Pham Manh Hung said that many cases of blood pressure difficult to control stem from patients measuring blood pressure incorrectly or not complying with treatment.
Some patients take medicine irregularly, arbitrarily skip medication or eat too salty food, so their blood pressure always fluctuates high. This is a very common cause," he said.
However, if the patient has taken medication according to the correct protocol, changed their lifestyle reasonably, but blood pressure is still high for a long time, the doctor needs to consider secondary hypertension or antiretroviral hypertension.
According to experts, more and more patients are diagnosed with high blood pressure due to special causes such as kidney artery stenosis, aldosterone hypertension, adrenal tumors, endocrine diseases or sleep apnea syndrome.
If the root cause is not found, even if you use a lot of medicine, blood pressure is still difficult to control," Professor Hung emphasized.
Cases suspected of secondary hypertension or antiretroviral hypertension need to be transferred to specialized cardiovascular centers for comprehensive assessment. Hypertension treatment today is not only limited to increasing the number of drugs but also combined with many new techniques.
Some commonly indicated techniques include 24-hour mobile blood pressure monitoring, renal artery Doppler ultrasound, CT scan or vascular resonance imaging, endocrine hormone quantification, sleep apnea syndrome assessment, and examination of target organ damage such as heart, brain, kidney.
If secondary causes have been ruled out but blood pressure is still high, the patient is considered a real resistant hypertension," Prof. Hung said.
Also according to Professor Hung, people should not be subjective or arbitrarily treat for a long time when blood pressure cannot be controlled. Early detection of the cause and proper specialized treatment can help prevent many dangerous complications such as stroke, heart failure or kidney failure.
