Relaxed atmosphere Hairdresser visit ideal for blood pressure control

Improve blood pressure: Have the hairdresser measure blood pressure

High blood pressure is sometimes referred to as a "silent killer" because it is often not noticeable by symptoms and is often discovered only when it has already caused organ damage. Therefore, health experts are advised to regularly check blood pressure. Unfortunately, not too many people stick to this advice. As a study from the US now shows, the visit to the hairdresser could be a good opportunity for blood pressure control.

Many do not know about their high blood pressure

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) almost every third adult in Germany suffers from hypertension. Many do not know for a long time about their hypertension. This can have dangerous consequences, because untreated high blood pressure increases the risk for, inter alia, heart attack, stroke, heart failure, diseases of the coronary arteries, kidney failure and even dementia. So it's clear that you should better diagnose and treat hypertension early. Health experts therefore recommend regular blood pressure measurements. By no means all citizens follow this advice. The blood pressure control could be improved, even if it takes place at the hairdresser. This shows a new study from the US.

Doctors advise again and again to measure the blood pressure regularly. However, many people do this far too seldom. As a study from the US now shows, the visit to the hairdresser could be a good opportunity for blood pressure control. (Image: think4photop / fotolia.com)

Particularly vulnerable risk group

According to the Deutsche Hochdruckliga e.V. DHL®, the success of a US study should be reason to think about similar models in Germany.

As the high-pressure league writes in a statement, high blood pressure in the US is not as common in any population group as it is in blacks.

However, most people do not know about their risk, as they rarely go to the doctor and high blood pressure usually causes no discomfort.

A visit to a barbershop (hairdressing salon), however, is part of the lifestyle. He is an opportunity to meet friends and talk about God and the world.

Hairdressers talking to their customers about the problem of hypertension

The study from California now shows that the social gathering point Barbershop can be used to improve blood pressure control in this high-risk group.

"The hairdressers were encouraged to talk to the men about the problem of high blood pressure and to invite them to a meeting with the pharmacist," explains Professor. med. Bernhard Krämer, Director of the V. Medical Clinic at the University Medical Center Mannheim and Chairman of the German Hypertension League.

"Once a month, the pharmacist went to the barbershop to measure the blood pressure and distribute medication to customers. The permission for this had been received by the pharmacist from the family doctors, who had concluded a contract with the pharmacist. "

The inclusion of hairdressers seems a bit more obvious when you know that barbers have been involved in the health care since the Middle Ages and had made bloodletting and tooth extractions.

Cut hair, blow dry, measure blood pressure

How successful this strategy can be is shown by the results published by Ronald G. Victor of the Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles and others in the journal New England Journal of Medicine.

The scientists had contacted 319 African American men at 52 hairdressing salons, with an initial upper systolic blood pressure of 152.8 mmHg on average, which was therefore at high risk of heart attack and stroke.

Six months later, blood pressure had dropped to 128 mmHg on average.

"Nearly 90 percent of men had a systolic blood pressure of less than 140 mmHg, which is now considered normal because it reduces the long-term risk of heart attack or stroke in high-pressure patients," said Professor Krämer.

In a second group, the hairdressers had only informed their customers about the risks and warned them urgently to let their family doctor treat their excessive blood pressure. Also in this group, the blood pressure was lowered after six months, but not so strong.

The average value was 145.4 mmHg after six months. Only one-third had reached a normal value of less than 140 mmHg.

Low threshold access to blood pressure control

For Professor Hoyer, director of the Department of Nephrology at the University Hospital Marburg, the study shows that it is important to address those affected in their usual environment and to allow low-threshold access to blood pressure control.

"Through the conversation with the hairdresser, high blood pressure becomes a topic in everyday life and the care provided by the pharmacist has certainly promoted the willingness to control the blood pressure regularly and take the medication, although you feel actually healthy," says the expert.

Similar models can imagine the German high pressure league for Germany. "Again, there are those affected who know nothing about their high blood pressure and rarely go to the family doctor," said Professor Hoyer.

"More often, however, many come by a pharmacy or are with the occupational physician," says the expert.

"These contacts should be used for increased education about the dangers of unrecognized high blood pressure and its possible treatment by a physician."

Unlike in the US, pharmacists in Germany are allowed to measure blood pressure, but do not spend any blood pressure medication on their own, but they could refer the patient to their family doctor. (Ad)