Male dysfunction turns out to be high blood pressure

Hypertension is the number one killer of human health. It can lead to cerebral hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, arteriosclerosis, kidney disease and many other complications. There are more than 200 million patients with hypertension in my country, and more than 6 million people are disabled due to hypertension. Moreover, the current status of hypertension has the characteristics of "three highs" and "three lows": high morbidity, high disability rate and high mortality rate; "three lows" are low awareness rate, low control rate and low cure rate.

What is even more worrying is that the patients suffering from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases caused by hypertension are becoming younger and younger. Therefore, how to carry out effective prevention and active treatment in the early stages of vascular disease is the main means to reduce the incidence of hypertension and the complications after the disease.

There are many factors that cause high blood pressure, such as genetic factors; long-term exposure to a tense and anxious environment; sympathetic nervous system disorders, which increase cardiac blood output and increase resistance vessel contraction, leading to increased peripheral resistance and increased blood pressure; and endothelial cell imbalance, which causes blood vessels to contract, resulting in increased peripheral resistance and increased blood pressure.

In recent years, more and more studies have found that some small arterial changes may indicate the occurrence of hypertension early. A survey of 3,654 elderly people living in two different areas in western Sydney found that those patients diagnosed with hypertension had previously had endothelial dysfunction.

For men, there is a unique and very accurate warning sign of high blood pressure, that is erectile dysfunction. When men find that they cannot get or maintain a sufficient erection to have a satisfying sex life, they may suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED). Simply put, erection is a process of penis congestion. When sexually excited, the internal arteries of the penis dilate significantly, the blood flow into the penis increases greatly, and the loose corpora cavernosa becomes congested with a large amount of blood, making it hard and thick.

If the endothelial dysfunction occurs in the penile arteries, then the blood cannot be fully filled and the erection will be weakened, which is one of the causes of pathological erectile dysfunction. The blood vessels in the penis are very small, and the slightest disease will lead to abnormalities. Therefore, many doctors now agree that erectile dysfunction is a silent warning signal of high blood pressure unique to men.

In addition, compared with normal people, the incidence of ED in hypertensive patients is higher. A survey of 634 hypertensive patients in Greece found that the prevalence of ED in patients with primary hypertension reached 35.2%, which was significantly higher than the 14.1% ED incidence in the control group without primary hypertension; the proportion of people with mild, moderate and severe ED was significantly higher than that in the control group.

A survey of outpatient clinics abroad showed that among patients with hypertension, 23.1% had complications of hypertension, such as heart attack (18%) or (and) heart failure (2.1%) and (or) stroke (11.7%). Among these hypertensive patients with complications, 83.3% also had ED. This shows that ED is an indicator of cardiovascular complications of hypertension and an independent risk factor for cardiovascular complications in patients with hypertension.

It is recommended that male patients with hypertension should actively seek treatment if they have ED. Currently, oral medication is the first-line treatment for ED. Among them, PDE5 inhibitors have the characteristics of high selectivity, high intensity of action, and low side effects, and are recognized by professional doctors. Studies have shown that after taking 10 mg orally for 12 weeks, 84% of hypertensive patients can complete sexual life; 68% of people said that the erection time is long enough and the quality of sexual life is high.

Community health service centers also shoulder important responsibilities in improving the prevention and treatment of hypertension. On the one hand, they better ensure that residents seek primary care in the community, and "intercept" some diseases in the first-level community health service centers, effectively alleviating the pressure on tertiary hospitals. On the other hand, community consultation and follow-up visits can also reduce the financial burden of patients and maximize the advantages of community doctors.