26% of Singaporeans have undiagnosed hypertension: MOH ...

26% of Singaporeans have undiagnosed hypertension: MOH

By Sara Grosse
Posted: 11 September 2011 2236 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health said 26 per cent of Singaporeans in the 30 to 69 age group who had hypertension had not been previously diagnosed.

This is according to the National Health Survey 2010 that will be published by year-end.

The survey also found that 67 per cent of known hypertensives (a person with high blood pressure) had good blood pressure control.

A recent pilot study by HealthSTATS International, in partnership with Hewlett-Packard (HP), SingTel and Frontier Healthcare Group), may have a solution to prevent this.

The 16-week research monitored the blood pressure of 100 participants on a mobile device and found that 61 per cent of those thought to be healthy had high blood pressure readings.

The study also shows how a watch device can help detect hypertension early by
monitoring heart rate, recording blood pressure and pulse over a 24-hour period.

The data is then sent to a call centre where doctors will have access to the information.

The study of the 100 participants using such a device found that more than half recorded high blood pressure readings.

It also found that the majority of these subjects had no pre-existing medical condition.

Dr Ting Choon Meng, CEO, HealthSTATS International, said: "This finding actually help us to understand the disease before something happen. And it also means there are many normal people, the so-called asymptomatic people with no symptom but they are not normal. They are like walking time-bomb."

Dr Ting said 24-hour ambulatory monitoring can help detect non-dippers or people whose blood pressure is persistently high at night and are most at risk of having a stroke.

He added that a 24-hour blood pressure monitoring is more accurate than a home-monitoring system.

In the UK, it is recommended that diagnosis of hypertension should first be confirmed by a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring but the medical industry in Singapore is divided on this practice.

While Dr Ting advocates that Singapore should follow the UK lead, some in the medical industry feel otherwise.

Dr Low Lip Ping, who is from the Low Cardiology Clinic, said: "There are well tested ways of screening for hypertension and using standard blood pressure devices at the moment. I am aware that ambulatory blood pressure measurement is a useful technique but it has not yet proven to be cost-effective for the purpose of screening."

Dr Low also commented on the pilot study, saying it is difficult to make substantial conclusions from it.

He said this is due to its small sample size, and the fact that the participants all came from Frontier Healthcare Group.

On its part, HealthStats said it will share the findings with the Ministry of Health.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...152479/1/.html

Source: http://forums.sgclub.com/singapore/26_singaporeans_undiagnosed_367872.html

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