New Delhi: Hypertension is increasingly affecting teenagers and young adults in India because of rising stress, obesity, poor sleep and unhealthy lifestyles, silently damaging the brain, heart and kidneys long before symptoms appear, doctors and public health experts warned on Thursday ahead of World Hypertension Day on May 17.Speaking at ‘Illness to Wellness Conference on Transforming Hypertension Care: Prevention to Wellness’, experts said many patients discovered high blood pressure only after suffering a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure because the disease often remained symptomless for years.Calling hypertension a “silent killer”, Union minister of state for health Prataprao Jadhav said in his video message that changing lifestyles and neglect of physical and mental health were contributing to rising hypertension among younger people.“Hypertension is no longer limited to the elderly. It is now affecting children and young adults as well,” said Prof Rakesh Yadav, cardiologist and head of emergency medicine at AIIMS, stressing the need for regular BP monitoring, healthy diets and weight control.Dr P Venkata Krishnan of Narayana Hospital said BP screening should ideally begin around the age of 15 because of rising obesity, academic stress and sleep disturbances among adolescents. “We are seeing early-onset hypertension from 15 years itself,” he said.Experts said hypertension remained one of the biggest risk factors for stroke, heart disease and chronic kidney disease, but awareness and treatment compliance remained poor. Dr Ripen Gupta of Max Smart Super Specialty Hospital said nearly one in four adults was affected by hypertension, yet blood pressure control rates remained very low.Prof Dipankar Bhowmik, head of nephrology at AIIMS, said uncontrolled hypertension was among the leading causes of chronic kidney disease and dialysis. “Almost 25-30% of dialysis patients have long-standing uncontrolled hypertension,” he said, advising people above 40 years to undergo routine kidney screening tests.Neurologists warned that dizziness, tingling, temporary weakness and visual disturbances might signal early brain involvement from high blood pressure and should not be ignored.Doctors also linked poor sleep, smoking, obesity, excess salt intake and sedentary lifestyles to rising hypertension, and advised annual BP screening after adolescence and regular exercise.Dr Partha Bose of SSB Hospital said sleep apnea and chronic sleep deprivation were major but under-recognised contributors. “Good sleep is not a luxury anymore. It is essential for blood pressure control.”
