Two out of 5 in Tamil Nadu unaware they have hypertension

CHENNAI: At least two out of five people in the state are unaware of their hypertension, according to the India Heart Study commissioned by Eris Lifesciences.
Analysis of tests on 2,293 people from Tamil Nadu showed that in one in five patients, the blood pressure spikes up during a doctor’s visit - called ‘white coat hypertension’ and an almost equal number of people displayed the reverse phenomenon called ‘masked hypertension’, where the blood pressure registers as normal in a clinic but increases at other times.While patients with white-coat hypertension may be put on needless antihypertensives, people with masked hypertension may go undiagnosed running the risk of complications of the heart, kidney, and brain, said cardiologist Dr Upendra Kaul, principal investigator of the study.
The state data was drawn from the larger Indian study. Investigators from across 15 states examined blood pressure of 18,918 participants through 1233 doctors over nine months. “Indians have higher blood pressure in the evenings than in mornings which should guide doctors to rethink the timing of antihypertensive drug dosage,” he said. “It was also found that Indians have an average resting heart rate of 80 beats per minute, higher than the desired rate of 72 beats per minute,” he added.
Dr S Shanmugasundaram, senior cardiologist, said home monitoring using automated apparatus can improve detection rates and reduce false positives.