Hypertension affects one in three individuals over the age of 45 years in Pakistan, and is one of the main causes of heart disease as well as stroke. "With over 12 million suffering from hypertension in the country, only 3 percent are adequately controlled. Most of the people facing hypertension never opt for medication to maintain their blood pressure levels and thus expose themselves to various associated complications, including stroke and heart diseases," medical experts told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
According to Dr Sheharyar Bhatti, secretary general Pakistan Society of Family Physicians, it was not widely realised that at present developing countries contribute a greater share to the global burden of cardiovascular diseases than developed countries. Unfortunately, he said, this trend has not been paralleled with appropriate efforts to prevent cardiovascular diseases epidemic, a reflection of the lack of investment in this area highlighting the political economics of health care investment in the developing world.
Dr Sheharyar maintained that the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the world in general and Pakistan in particular have registered a significant increase over the past two decades. The cardiovascular diseases have assumed the shape of an epidemic, contributing to a huge proportion of morbidity and mortality across the globe, particularly developing countries, he added.
In other words, cardiovascular diseases are no longer a problem of the West alone, but are of an equal, if not greater concern, to developing countries, like Pakistan, he said and added that 80 percent of the 17 million deaths caused by heart diseases world-wide occur in low and middle income countries.
MAIN REASON: Dr Sheharyar said the main reason of this is unhealthy lifestyle in the developing countries.
Punjab Medical Association finance secretary Professor Dr Khalid Masood Gondal said that cardiovascular death and disability could be reduced by more than 50 percent by taking simple and cost-effective measures that deal with the risk factors.
"South Asia, housing one fourth of the world population, serves an index example to highlight the increase in heart diseases. With large family sizes and more than 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line, the traditional economic dependence of females frequently translates into large family models with a single breadwinner," he opined.
ECONOMIC PRESSURE: Dr Khalid further stated that economic consequence of cardiovascular disease against the backdrop of the high prevalence and young onset rates within this framework were, therefore, phenomenal both in the context of healthcare and low productivity costs and invariably transfer the economic pressure of the household to the women and children in this vicious circle.