The recent increase in the incidence of high blood pressure is faster in men than in womenã…£Source: Getty Image Bank
More than 800,000 people each year are diagnosed with high blood pressure for the first time or start treatment for high blood pressure. According to the National Health Insurance Corporation and Korean Hypertension Association published by the National Health Insurance Big Data on Hypertension in Koreans, a total of 830,000 hypertension patients occurred in 2021. The number of hypertension patients continues to increase from 550,000 in 2014. this is because the number of people diagnosed with hypertension has increased due to an increase in the obese and elderly population, and an increase in the rate of health checks.
If the number of new hypertension cases per year is divided by the number of people covered by health insurance in that year, the prevalence rate of hypertension is obtained. As of 2021, 2 in 100 men and 1.6 in 100 women had new cases. Regardless of the year, however, the prevalence of hypertension in men is 1.2 to 1.3 times higher than in women.
In addition, the recent increase in the number of cases of hypertension is faster in men than in women. ‘Obesity’ is identified as the cause of the faster increase in male hypertensive patients. As a result of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the rate of increase in adult obesity was steeper among men than among women. Then, why are obese people more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than people of normal weight?
This is because adipose tissue goes beyond storing excess energy and also acts as an endocrine organ that secretes various substances. A number of substances secreted by fat cells are called ‘Adipokines’. Representative adipokines include leptin, a protein hormone that suppresses appetite, and adiponectin, a protein hormone that breaks down fat.
Adipokines play an important role in various metabolic processes that occur in our body, such as carbohydrate metabolism, immune function, and reproductive function, as well as fat metabolism. However, if you are obese, there is a problem with adipokine secretion, and the secretion of certain adipokine increases or decreases, leading to obesity-related diseases.
Academia believes that adiponectin, one of the adipokines, has a close influence on the health of blood vessels and blood pressure. This is because blood levels of adiponectin are lower in people with or suffering from hypertension than in people with normal blood pressure. In other words, people with high adiponectin levels are reported to be less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension than people with low levels.
In addition, obesity adversely affects blood flow and the structure and function of the cardiovascular system. Obesity increases total blood volume and cardiac output. In general, if you are obese, your cardiac output will be higher at the same level of blood pressure. As the load on the heart increases, blood pressure rises and the risk of cardiovascular disease increases.
