Controlling hypertension

Nearly 700 million people in the world, including some 7.14 million Filipinos, are estimated to be suffering from high blood pressure, with many becoming permanently disabled or dying prematurely from its complications.

Adequate control of the blood pressure to optimal levels is very poor, especially in developing countries, with only nine percent of hypertensive Filipinos adequately controlled.

In 1999, hypertension was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death in about 50,000 of the more than 300,000 deaths in the Philippines.

These are just some of the alarming facts about hypertension discussed by heart experts during the launch of a new brand of losartan yesterday at the NBC tent in Fort Bonifacio.

High blood pressure is the second most prevalent cardiovascular risk factor in the country based on the survey done by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute.

According to Dr. Esperanza Cabral, president of the Philippine Society of Hypertension, "Death caused by hypertension complications in the Philippines is higher than those in Japan, Brunei or Singapore."

She said the prevalence of hypertension is unacceptably high and the control of high blood pressure is unacceptably bad. A major factor causing the poor control of hypertension is still socio-economic, mainly due to the cost of the drug.

In developing countries such as the Philippines, the cost of healthcare is made up substantially of the cost of medicine. For hypertensive patients, it is important to know how much the medicines cost because these patients are going to take them for the rest of their lives.

Cabral urged physicians to be conscious of their role as a powerful agent in correcting the patient’s dilemma on the cost of medicines and healthcare in general.

"After the quality of a drug is assured, being sensitive to its price or cost is a means of doing service to our patients," she advised.

This new brand of losartan, shown to be bioequivalent with the innovator brand, is sold at half the price of its class of drug in the market. This is in line with its distributor’s corporate mission of marketing effective and high-quality medicines at more affordable costs.

Losartan is one of the popularly prescribed medicines for high blood pressure and should be taken only with a doctor’s prescription.