Hypertension
By Chimezie Anaso
Awka, March 25, 2026.(NAN) The Chief Medical Director of Rock Foundation Hospital, Awka, Dr Chukwudi Njelita, has expressed concern over what he described as “the increasing prevalence” of high blood pressure among adolescents and youths in the country.
Njelita spoke on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka, saying that the development differed from the past experiences.
He said that in the past, the ailment was more common among full adults and the elderly.
He said the medical advice that people from 40 years and above should check their blood pressure every six months or every month was no longer tenable.
According to Njelita, nobody bothered to check the blood pressure of those below 20 years in the past.
“Two illnesses that are disturbingly prevalent now are stroke or cardio vascular accident and kidney failure which have causative agents in hypertension or poorly managed hypertension.
“The worrisome aspect is that young people below 20 years make up large population of people with hypertension, this used to be quite rare in the past.
“The argument that hypertension is age-related and more with older people from 40 years and above is being refuted with what is going on today.
“If somebody gets hypertension at an early stage, it begins to target vital organs of the body, mostly the kidney, this is the key basis for the rise in renal failure among youths,” Njelita said.
He advised that cardio vascular accident, which is a result of bleeding in the brain or blockage of an important blood vessel, should be managed timely because there is nothing like partial stroke.
“Stroke is stroke, nothing like partial stroke,” he said.
The medical expert warned against indulgence in junk foods and beverages that are rich in refined sugar.
He said that refined sugar jeopardises natural rate and efficiency of metabolism, which leaves the body with harmful substances.
“The presence of refined sugar jeopardises natural functions in human body,” he said.
