RIYADH, 18 February 2004 — Physicians from all over the Middle East who attended a recent international hypertension conference in Rome have suggested multi-therapy for controlling rising blood pressure rates. Local doctors, however, will have to choose the right combination of drugs from the more than 85 hypertension medications sold by over 5,000 pharmacies in the Kingdom.
“Prescribing more than one drug will help to check cardiovascular disease, which is the No. 1 cause of death in industrialized countries. While mortality rates have fallen in the US, Australia and Europe, they continue to rise in the Middle East,” said Dr. Ibrahim Mosfi, consultant at the Security Forces Hospital in Riyadh, who attended the Rome conference.
More than 1000 doctors were at the conference which discussed the new VALIANT trial, the largest long-term study of patients who have suffered and survived a heart attack. The study followed 14,703 patients from 24 countries in a special project designed to help increase understanding of repeat heart attacks and develop ways of preventing them.
“Several new drugs have recently come on the market to cure hypertension”, said Dr. Adel Berbari and Dr Majdi Al-Najjar, who pointed out that obesity and diabetes cause many problems in the Middle East. They said that normally about 25-30 percent of the population suffers from hypertension though only 25 percent of that group are treated. Hypertension has a direct impact on such vital organs as the heart, the brain and the kidneys. There is also a link between hypertension and diabetes. A total of 12.3 percent of the Saudi population suffer from diabetes.
Hypertension and diabetes can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle, which includes low salt consumption, exercise and weight management.