Over 50% doctors affected with hypertension, says study

More than 50 per cent physicians have been found to have uncontrolled hypertension or high blood pressure (BP) despite taking hypertensive medicines, owing to high-stress levels, a study has showed.

Hypertension is one of the most common lifestyle diseases prevalent today with one in three Indian adults suffering from it and is equally high amongst the medical fraternity. 

However, it is often mis-diagonosed given the difference in blood pressure readings at home and in a clinical setting.

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The findings found that 56 per cent of doctors suffered from irregular BP at night and 21 per cent from masked hypertension -- a condition in which a patient's blood pressure reading is inaccurate due to specific environments. 

This masked hypertension is also associated with an increased long-term risk of sustained hypertension and cardiovascular morbidity, the study said. 

"Over 50 per cent physicians had uncontrolled hypertension despite taking hypertensive medicines. While 21 per cent of the doctors surveyed had masked hypertension or isolated ambulatory hypertension, another 56 per cent doctors suffered from irregular BP pattern at night making them prone to future adverse cardiac events," said Indian Medical Association (IMA) Presidet K.K. Aggarwal.

For the study, the team took nearly 20,000 readings of 533 doctors. 

The study aimed to raise awareness about the benefits of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) -- where the BP of the patient is continuously evaluated over a period of 24 hours -- in the timely and correct diagnosis of hypertension.