Background: Hypertension and its associated cardiovascular disease are rapidly increasing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hypertension was listed as the leading risk factor for premature deaths in the kingdom. This study aims to investigate the major inducing factors of hypertensive complications and the interventions required to reduce their prevalence.
Methods: Studies in this review article were obtained by online research through scientific websites, including the PubMed database and Google Scholar. The search process included using several keywords; the keywords used were hypertension, complications, prevalence, factors, intervention, and control. We reviewed the studies that were published between 2015 and 2020. We excluded all the articles before 2015.
Results: The major inducing factors of hypertensive complications include obesity, unhealthy diet, high sodium intake, low potassium intake, lack of physical activity, and alcohol consumption. Implementing healthy lifestyle interventions has been associated with reductions in hypertension prevalence. Losing weight through a balanced diet, decreasing sodium intake, increasing potassium intake, and increasing physical activity are practical lifestyle interventions for the control of high blood pressure. In addition, increasing the knowledge and awareness about the diseases and their complications among hypertensive patients through the multicomponent intervention led to a significant reduction in hypertension when compared with the usual care. It also improved patient compliance to antihypertensive medication and physician compliance with clinical guidelines, resulting in a substantial reduction in BP and the associated cardiovascular disease mortality.
Conclusion: Numerous lifestyle risk factors are associated with high BP levels and hypertension. Implementing healthy lifestyle interventions and improving the healthcare system have been associated with reductions in the prevalence of hypertension complications.
Key words: hypertension, complications, prevalence, factors, intervention, control
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