Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    A SHENZHEN hospital found 12.5 percent of the high blood pressure patients it has received in the past three years suffered from resistant hypertension, a type that does not respond to treatment.

    Yiu K. H., a consultant doctor at the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital, said the number of resistant hypertension patients is rising due to factors including an aging population, obesity and chronic diseases.

    The hospital’s department of cardiology analyzed the data of its 1,455 patients and found that these resistant hypertension patients can’t control their blood pressure with only one or two drugs. The team has published their research results in the December issue of Postgraduate Medicine Journal.

    Resistant hypertension, defined as blood pressure that remains elevated above treatment goals despite the use of a three-drug regimen, occurs regardless of age, Yiu’s team found. The team suggests such patients control their weight as well as their consumption of liquor and salt, in addition to proper diet and exercise.