head of World Hypertension Day 2018, distinguished Consultant Cardiologist, Professor Ayodele Omotoso, has alerted on the increasing prevalence of hypertension (high blood pressure) in the country, warning that hypertension is now the number-one risk factor for death globally.

While also noting that hypertension is on the rise in both rural and urban areas of Nigeria among men and women, Prof. Omotoso said current treatment guidelines for the condition have now identified combination therapy as a requirement for majority of patients to reach the appropriate blood pressure goal.

He disclosed further that, according to the guidelines, mono-therapy only allows a limited number of hypertension patients to achieve set targets of blood pressure, adding that in the majority of patients, the use of more than one drug agent is necessary to achieve results.

Prof. Omotosho stated further that while hypertension has continued to be a major public health problem whose prevalence is increasing worldwide, the treatment of the condition has been a major medical success of the past half-century.

He however identified financial constraints, doubts over treatment benefits, unique patient characteristics, unwelcome side-effects or drug tolerability issues, need for more than one agent or complex treatment regimes, as well as a lack of understanding of instructions provided by physicians, as reasons for non-compliance of hypertension patients to treatment.