Consulting a specialist for hypertension? One in two doctors themselves are suffering from it

CHENNAI: More than half of the doctors have uncontrolled hypertension despite taking hypertensive medicines, and many of them face risk of cardiovascular conditions, revealed a study conducted by Indian Medical Association (IMA) along with Heart Care Foundation of India and Eris Lifesciences.

As much as 56 per cent had irregular BP at night and 21 per cent had masked hypertension, found the study which was conducted to raise awareness about doctors’ health and diagnosis of hypertension on World Hypertension Day (May 17), Dr K K Agarwal, national president of Indian Medical Association, and president, Heart Care Foundation of India, told Express.

“We have conducted this study in 33 cities where we have IMA chapters, including Chennai. The study also reveals that the doctors are under stress,” Dr Agarwal added.

The researchers attempted to record the maximum number of ambulatory blood pressure readings among the medical fraternity in a single day. For this, over 20,000 readings were taken from 533 doctors in these 33 cities.

The aim was to raise awareness about the benefits of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) for  the timely and correct diagnosis of hypertension, said a press release from the group which conducted the study.

The study also revealed that 21 per cent of the doctors surveyed had masked hypertension or isolated ambulatory hypertension. Masked hypertension is associated with an increased long-term risk of sustained hypertension and cardiovascular morbidity.

In addition to this, 56 per cent of the doctors suffered from irregular BP pattern at night, making them prone to future adverse cardiac events.

Also 37 per cent doctors have nocturnal hypertension, which can never be diagnosed through clinical BP measurement.