Hypertension remains Nigeria’s  leading  cause of sudden deaths – Dr. Faduyile

Dr. Faduyile

A Consultant Anatomic Pathologist, Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja, Dr Francis Faduyile, last week said hypertension is still the number one cause of sudden deaths in Nigeria.

Dr. Faduyile revealed this at the 33rd annual General Assembly and Awards of Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) in Ikoyi, Lagos. According to him, the rate of  sudden death is very high in the country and hypertension accounts for 10 percent of deaths in hospitals and 44 percent of sudden deaths.

APBN is an apex organization comprising of 30 professional bodies, whose main objective is to provide Nigeria with an effective forum for transmitting to government the aggregate of the nation’s professional views  on matter of public interest.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Faduyile charged Nigerians to cultivate the habit of healthy living so as to curtail the medical and socio-economic implications of the disease in our society. He however, gave preventive strategies as regular blood pressure check, being compliant with medication, rising above myths such as ’I am not thinking anything, so I can’t have it or I am not fat and I am not under stress.

“Everyone needs to be aware of cardiovascular diseases, which could result to sudden death. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) sudden death is non-violent and does not occur in less than 24 hours from the onset of symptoms.

“We found that hypertension kills suddenly. The heart just stops and that is why it is called heart attack. It is so common now that we have cases of 20, 22, 25 year-olds coming down with very severe hypertension and are dying,” he averted.

Dr. Faduyile further disclosed that it has been scientifically determined that obesity is the cause of a lot of diseases, from coronary artery, respiratory diseases and hypertension, as it leads to blockage of blood supplies to the heart, thereby causing sudden death.

He advised that people should avoid sedentary lifestyle and embrace constant exercise, adding  that obesity has a common relationship with diabetes melitus and can also be linked to cancer.

“So, all these things have shown that obesity is a disease that everybody must do their best to stop. We can correct it by being careful of what we eat, reduce the refined product we eat, do regular exercise and make sure we live a healthy life.

“Our fathers were eating fresh vegetables. They were not office executives.  They worked in the farms. They walked to the farms and did manual work. They burnt a lot of energy daily. But nowadays, we go to the office, sit down from morning till evening in the AC  room, visit the clubs and drink some alcohol.

“From there, we go inside the car and to the house, eat and sleep. All we have done is to store a lot of energy in the body and we have not in any way burned any energy and that is why obesity is a big problem for all of us today.”

Faduyile  stressed further  that people need at least five hours rest in a day. “If you refuse to rest, you have a lot of oxidative stress and other things working in your body that can cause hypertension, depression and anxiety and they are not good for health.

“It is required that if you love yourself you need like five hours rest per day,” he said.

In his address, the president, APBN, Dr Omede Idris, said most Nigerians are living through very tough economic environment while pointing that various agitations and protestations across the country require careful and ingenious handling for peace, tranquillity and security to thrive for a positive growth.

To address these challenges, Dr Idris advised: “There should be a sincere and committed interface between professional bodies, APBN, government, labour organizations, organized private sector and other critical stakeholders,” while adding that this will no doubt impact on our nation’s development and infrastructural challenges positively.

Recipients of the awards are: Aliyu Mohammed, Osikayo Ishola, Dr Kitchener Stephen and Okeke Joseph, who have made impact in their areas of expertise.