Visakhapatnam: Hypertension has become a common disease with at least one adult family member afflicted by it. It's also the root cause of most major non-communicable disease such as cardiac ailments, stroke and renal problems. On World Hypertension Day (May 17), doctors caution against misinterpretations of the disease and erroneous readings, especially while checking the blood pressure on one's own.According to World Health Organisation (WHO), one in three adults above 25 years of age suffer from high blood pressure globally. Occurring mostly without any well-defined symptoms, doctors find one in four adults above the age of 40 with hypertension and its obvious fallouts in AP.However, complicating the scenario are myths, wrong diagnosis and phobia. These days, many people purchase electronic blood pressure devices and use it indiscriminately. Most of the times, the discharged batteries or level of energy in the batteries can give wrong readings.General physician Dr Kutikuppala Surya Rao said, "Repeated examination of blood pressure and errors in reading may lead to depression or anxiety. Many a times, patients come saying that their blood pressure is 220/160 mm of Hg and on examination by standard blood pressure apparatus, blood pressure turns out to be either 130/90 or 130/ 80 mm of Hg. People should not check blood pressure by themselves, but go to a qualified physician or a cardiologist as factors like tightening the cuff, feeling the pulse, timing of examination have significant role in diagnosing hypertension correctly.""Further, single random check-up at times gives false reading. It's because of temporary stress or doctor phobia. Therefore, before taking drugs for hypertension, it's a must to get a thorough check up, more than once at intervals and also undergo tests to rule out other etiological factors such as diabetes, heart and kidney disease," the doctor added.

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