Combine proper exercise and regular taking antihypertensive medicine was better to lower diastolic blood pressure among diastolic prehypertensive and hypertensive subjects.

Aim To prove that proper exercise and taking antihypertensive medicine may reduce diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by ≥ 5 mmHg. Method A quasi-experimentation study was done on employees of a government bureau in Jakarta, for 8 weeks from March to August 2008. All prehypertensive and hypertensive subjects were detected through a survey prior to the quasi-experimentation study. A talk was given at the beginning of the quasi-experimentation study, and weekly counseling sessions on exercise, taking medications, and other related topics continued for 8 weeks. Cox regression was used for calculating relative risk. Results A total 1,016 employees out of 1,300 were involved in this blood pressure survey. Of these, 318 subjects had a DBP of 80 mmHg or more. Out of 120 subjects who voluntarily participated, 104 subjects completed the quasi-experimentation study. Compared to those who did not exercise properly and did not take antihypertensive medicines, subjects who did exercise properly and took medicines regularly had a lower diastolic blood pressure DBP ≥ 5 mmHg by more than 12-fold [adjusted relative risk (RRa) = 12.32; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0,65-234,54; P = 0.095. However subjects who exercised properly or took antyhypertensive medicines irregularly were found to lower their DBP ≥ 5 mmHg by almost 11 fold [adjusted relative risk (RRa) = 10.94; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.04-58.74]; P = 0.005. Subjects with DBP = 90-99mmHg had a decrease of DBP ≥ 5 mmHg 4.8 fold (RRa = 4.75; 95% CI = 1.19-18.65) compared to those with DBP = 80-89mmHg. Compared to the normal subjects, the obese, resting pulse rate bradycardia, and high average pulse pressure subjects had less probability of lowering DBP ≥ 5mmHg, by 87%, 90%, and 65%, respectively. Conclusion Combine proper exercise and taking antihypertensive medicine was reduce DBP by ≥5 mmHg among DBP (pre-) hypertensive subjects. The obese, bradycardia, or high pulse pressure subjects failed to lowering their DBP ≥5 mmHg by proper exercise and taking antihypertensive medicine.

Combined traditional medicine and pharmacological antihypertensive drugs in a rural community of West Java, Indonesia.

Some hypertensive subjects in Indonesia consume traditional herbal medicines in addition to the usual pharmacological drugs. This paper studied the relationship between several traditional herbal medicines, such as morinda, star fruit, garlic, or jamu, believed to control hypertension and the risk of current pharmacological antihypertensive drug users in subjects with stage 1 and 2 hypertension in a rural community West Java, Indonesia. The data were obtained from 3 field studies by the second year medical students of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia conducted in 2001, 2002, and 2003 in a subdistrict of the Bogor regency. The subjects were selected randomly from neighborhood clusters. Interviews and blood pressure measurements were conducted at the houses of the subjects by specially trained second year medical students supervised by faculty members. There were 496 subjects with stage 1 or 2 hypertension, with 11.5% under current antihypertensive drugs. Compared with the hypertension stage 1 subjects, hypertension stage 2 subjects were 5.4 times more likely to be currently taking pharmacological antihypertensive medication (adjusted odds ratio = 5.44; 95% confidence interval = 2.64-11.27). The combined of current antihypertensive medication with traditional medicines were cucumber which being the most dominant followed by star fruit and morinda. Reasons for this were probably the strong influence of culture, the limited medical facilities, and high cost of the antihypertensive drugs. It was concluded that in a rural Indonesia, it was common for hypertensive subjects to take pharmacological drugs as well as traditional medicine for antihypertensive therapy.