[100-Year Life Health] 'Too Common Disease' Hypertension... 1 in 3 Patients Are Unaware

Many Patients Unaware Due to No Symptoms
Top Habit to Lower Blood Pressure Is 'Eating Less Salt'

Professor Son Ki-young, Department of Family Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul

Hypertension is the most common chronic disease that adults in Korea encounter doctors for. One in three adults over the age of 30 in Korea has hypertension, and it becomes more common with age, so that about half of the elderly have hypertension. Hypertension is not only common but also the most important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and cerebrovascular diseases, which are the leading causes of death among Korean adults. Nevertheless, it is said that one in three Korean adults with hypertension is unaware that they have the condition.

Hypertension has no symptoms. Perhaps due to the influence of old TV dramas, many people mistakenly think that headaches or sudden collapse are symptoms of hypertension. Therefore, it is common to meet people who do not think about hypertension if they do not experience such symptoms regularly. However, in reality, hypertension has no noticeable symptoms, and one cannot know if they have hypertension unless they deliberately measure their blood pressure. This is why regular blood pressure measurement is recommended as part of health checkups.

Once hypertension is diagnosed, it is important to consult with a doctor to decide whether to take antihypertensive medication based on the blood pressure level. However, regardless of whether medication is taken, it is essential to try to lower blood pressure through lifestyle changes. Among various lifestyle habits, key factors include controlling diet, managing body weight, and maintaining regular exercise. Since it is not possible to cover all these topics here, let us focus on diet, considering that everyone eats three meals a day.

Among dietary controls to lower blood pressure, one important aspect is eating less salty food. Especially in Korean meals, soups or stews are commonly included, and the amount of salt in these dishes is usually not small. Therefore, if the seasoning is moderate, it is not advisable to drink all the broth of soups or stews. Also, when talking about eating less salty food, people often think it only means making the seasoning bland, but what really matters is the amount of salt consumed. For example, consider adding one spoon of salt to half a bowl of soup and drinking all the broth versus adding one spoon of salt to a full bowl and drinking all the broth. In this case, the seasoning of the full bowl is much milder, but the amount of salt consumed is the same. Therefore, the effect on blood pressure would be similar in both cases. Thus, it is better not only to season food lightly but also to reduce the amount of broth consumed.

Another dietary factor to mention is alcohol. Repeated heavy drinking is one of the most certain ways to raise blood pressure. If you have roughly consumed five cans of beer or about one bottle of soju in one sitting, it can be considered heavy drinking. But does drinking less than that amount mean it is safe? Alcohol’s impact on health is not limited to raising blood pressure; in particular, even small amounts of alcohol increase the risk of cancer, so it is difficult to say that moderate drinking is harmless.

Since even discussing a part of the common disease hypertension leads to such a lengthy explanation, understanding health properly is not as easy as it seems. Therefore, to understand health accurately and manage it well, it is recommended to have a primary care physician and maintain regular communication.

Son Gi-yeong, Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.