Unhealthy diets, stress, and sedentary lifestyles contribute to hypertension among youth — Doctor

A medical doctor, Vanessa Mensah-Kabu, has attributed the surge in hypertension among the youth to the consumption of unhealthy diets, elevated stress levels, and sedentary lifestyles.

Speaking on Health Focus on GhanaWeb TV, she emphasised that lifestyle choices play a critical role in this increase, noting that many young people are less active than they should be, which contributes to their risk of developing high blood pressure.

"I would say that lifestyle plays a significant role. More people are going to the hospital, so we are picking up some more incidents and the very important lifestyle. We have the young ones who are engaged in sedentary lifestyles. They are not as active as we would like them to be.

"One of the things that helps reduce a person's risk of hypertension is being active. Also, regarding diets, we are engaging in more fatty foods. We're not eating healthy at all. Then the alcohol consumption is also one of the reasons we are diagnosing more hypertension in younger people," she stated.

Dr. Mensah-Kabu explained that hypertension is often referred to as the 'silent killer' due to its subtle symptoms, which can be easily overlooked.

"It is nicknamed the silent killer because most of the time, the symptoms tend to be very vague, so people don't pick it up easily, so that is why it is named the silent killer."

She further elaborated on the different types of hypertension found in younger individuals.

"Hypertension is a different type of condition among young people. We have essential hypertension, or primary hypertension, meaning that is the sole cause of elevated blood pressure.

"We have the secondary hypertension, meaning that the hypertension or elevated blood pressure is coming from other causes, such as a chronic kidney disease that may be causing that and then we have the gestational hypertension or the pregnancy-induced hypertension," she stated.

Dr. Vanessa Mensah-Kabu advised the youth to also manage their stress levels effectively and reduce the intake of salt in their diets to reduce the risk of getting hypertension.

"Also elevated stresses, stress-related factors. It could be your work environment will constantly put you in a state of elevated blood pressure.

"Elevated stresses; it is important that you manage the stress around you. It could be work-related stress. It could be family stress; it is important that you manage the stress around you.

"And then also, salt in our diets. We like tasty food that unfortunately does not help our bodies. Increased salt in our diets also tends to put us at risk of high blood pressure," she added.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), globally, an estimated 1.28 billion adults aged 30–79 years suffer from hypertension, with the majority (two-thirds) residing in low and middle-income countries.

It notes that it remains a leading cause of premature death globally, contributing significantly to public health concerns, with 46% of adults with hypertension unaware of their condition.

Additionally, less than half (42%) of adults with hypertension are diagnosed and treated, and only around 1 in 5 adults (21%) with hypertension have it under control.

Watch the interview of Dr. Vanessa on Health Focus on GhanaWeb TV below:



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