RESUMEN
The Philippine Society of Hypertension (PSH) took part again in the annual May Measurement Month 2021 (MMM21) blood pressure (BP) campaign to raise awareness of hypertension. The MMM standard protocol designed by the MMM coordinating centre was used during screening. These included the collection of basic data on demography, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Standardized sitting BP measurements were taken three times, using automated BP apparatus and were either entered via MMM21 app, MMM@Home, and Google Forms or recorded on paper and transferred to Excel spreadsheets by PSH encoders. Hypertension was defined either as systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg or on antihypertensive medication. A total of 59 655 participated through opportunistic convenience sampling. After multiple imputation, a total of 26 813 (44.9%) participants were identified as having hypertension. Of these, 14 449 (53.9%) were aware and 12 978 (48.4%) were on antihypertensive medication. Of those who were treated, 5644 (43.5%) had controlled BP (<140/90â mmHg) and 7334 (56.5%) were uncontrolled. These latest local data showed that BP awareness is still low with BP control achieved in less than half of treated patients. Continued collaboration is needed to improve BP screening programmes in the country.
RESUMEN
The Philippine Society of Hypertension (PSH) took part again in the annual May Measurement Month 2019 (MMM19) blood pressure (BP) measurement campaign to raise awareness of hypertension especially in those who are not aware of their condition. The MMM19 standard protocol designed by the International Society of Hypertension was used during screening. These included the collection of basic data on demography, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Standardized sitting BP measurements were taken two to three times, using an automated BP apparatus and were inputted either in the MMM19 app or data were recorded in paper form and manually transferred to Excel spreadsheets by encoders supervised by the PSH. A total of 89 941 participated through opportunistic convenience sampling. After multiple imputation, a total of 47 925 (53.3%) participants had hypertension (≥140/90 mmHg or on antihypertensive medication). Of this number, 31 151 (65%) were aware that they had high BP and 30 120 (62.8%) were on antihypertensive medications. Of the 30 120 participants on antihypertensive medications, only 18 373 (61.1%) had controlled BP (<140/90 mmHg). Being overweight or obese were significant predictors of high BP. Other predictors of high systolic BP and diastolic BP were alcohol intake, smoking, and a previous history of hypertension in pregnancy, while pregnant participants had significantly lower BP. The MMM19 campaign succeeded in raising awareness of high BP in our country, and the opportunistic sampling enhanced a sense of people empowerment by their knowing how easy it is to detect high BP and thereby enabling the prevention of long-term health complications. The higher BP control in the MMM19 hypertensive individuals possibly attests to the success of the previous MMM17 and MMM18 campaigns.
RESUMEN
Hypertension has remained the number one cause of cardiovascular death in the Philippines for over three (3) decades. Despite this finding, the burden accounted for by hypertension is investigated to a lesser extent. We performed this study to determine the socioeconomic impact of hypertension in the Philippines, and it was projected in the next 30 years. We gathered primary data through interviews, Labor Force Survey (N = 806), and secondary data from various government published reports. The cost of illness (COI) was calculated using the direct morbidity and mortality costs. The impact (% of respondents) of uncontrolled hypertension on productivity at work showed the following; four (4) days missing work (72%) and ten (10) days lost of productivity (63%). The impact (% of respondents) of uncontrolled hypertension on productivity at home showed the following: six (6) days of household suspended (66%), eleven (11) days reduced household work (78%), and five (5) days affected social activity (60%). The productivity loss of premature mortality accounts for 17% of the total economic burden in 2020 and will increase to 20% by 2050. In 2020, 70% of the total economic burden was accounted for direct & indirect care. At its present value, the economic cost of hypertension is expected to increase from US$1 billion in 2020 to US$1.9 billion by 2050. The socioeconomic impact of uncontrolled hypertension in the Philippines was enormous, challenging, and overwhelming for the next 30 years.