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| Treatment and Prevention of Hypertension |
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by Kevin Rebeck PA-C - May 11, 2011
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The world’s population now exceeds 5 billion people! Of that population, one billion worldwide are affected by Hypertension. By definition we are dealing not with an epidemic but a pandemic, which shall only become more significant as the baby boomers become grandparents and beyond.
In the United States, 50 million individuals currently carry the diagnosis of Hypertension, of which only 35% are controlled on medical therapy. We know historically that by the Framingham Heart Study that Normotensive individuals by age 55 have a 90% life time risk of developing Hypertension and the relationship between blood pressure and cardiovascular disease is continuous, consistent, and independent of other risk factors. For those people age 40 to 70, each increased increment of 20mmHg in systolic blood pressure or 10mmHg of diastolic pressure doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease across the entire range of 115/75 to 185/115. Visits to midlevel practitioners for treatment of Hypertension already exceed 18 million visits per year, second only to respiratory visits.
Our work in the future is cut out for us, we know already that Hypertension therapy will decrease strokes 35 to 40%, Myocardial Infarctions 20 to 25%, and decrease Heart Failure up to 50%, and we know that a patient with Stage One Hypertension and one risk factor will, by maintaining a 12 mmHg drop in blood pressure for ten years, prevent one death in 11 patients treated. During the treatment of these patients we are also identifying that non-pharmaceutical ways also play a role in achieving blood pressure control , i.e.: weight reduction 5 to 20 mmHg, diet changes 8 to 14 mmHg, physical activity 4 to 9 mmHg, alcohol in moderation 2 to 4 mmHg. When medical therapy is added to these non-pharmaceutical approaches, we as first line practitioners may have a foot hold on establishing improved outcomes of Morbidity and Mortality for our patients in our communities.
Kevin will be presenting on this topic at the Skin, Bones, Hearts & Private Parts Conference in Orlando, September 7 - 9, 2011.
Kevin Rebeck PA-C is a graduate of the University of California, Davis. He performed a two year fellowship in Cardiology, has an extensive background in both basic & clinical research and is fully trained in: Cardiology, Interventional Radiology, & Vascular Transplant Surgery. He has served on the AAPA committee for Diversity and was the AAPA Liaison to the NIH & the National High Blood Pressure Education Program & coauthor for the JNC-7 Hypertension Guidelines.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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