Focusing on You: Hypertension Center Focuses on Heart Disease Prevention
Patients are evaluated based on four pillars of cardiovascular risk.
Maria Delgado-Lelievre, M.D., the Director of the Comprehensive Hypertension Center at the University of Miami Health System, explains how prevalent hypertension is in the United States and how the center focuses on four pillars of the condition to provide patients personalized treatment by identifying their cardiovascular risk.
TRANSCRIPTION
Narrator:
Focusing on you. Innovations in Modern Medicine from your team of experts at uHealth, The University of Miami Health System.
Pam Giganti:
Preston Pugh had no idea he suffered from high blood pressure until he passed out on a flight.
Preston Pugh:
My best friend was with me on the plane, said that he just saw me kind of faint and fade away.
Pam Giganti:
That’s when he went to see Dr. Maria Delgado, the head of the Comprehensive Hypertension Center at uHealth.
Dr. Maria Delgado-Lelievre:
In the United States, one out of two adults are either hypertensive or will become hypertensive in the future.
Pam Giganti:
It’s the number one risk for heart disease, but people don’t realize they are hypertensive until it’s too late.
Pam Giganti
Sadly, the patient will go through their life with elevated blood pressure. And it’s when they come to the hospital for either heart attack, chest pain, shortness of breath, or signs of stroke that they realize their blood pressure was high.
Pam Giganti:
At the Hypertension Center, each patient is evaluated based on four pillars.
Dr. Maria Delgado-Lelievre:
Genetics, biochemical, physiological, and the environmental pillar. Genetics, what are the genetic aspect of your hypertension? Where does it come from? Your mom, your dad, your grandparents? The other one is the biochemistry. Not every hypertensive behaves the same in terms of how the kidney, the brain, and the vassals respond.
Pam Giganti:
The third pillar, which is physiological, means your blood pressure is never static.
Dr. Maria Delgado-Lelievre:
You will never have one single blood pressure. They’re like, “My blood pressure, doctor, is 120 over 70. Always.” Yeah, that’s a lie. Blood pressure changes with everything you do. The fourth pillar is the environmental. That’s when you integrate the care, not only of the hypertensive patient, but it is passed to their offspring and their siblings.
Pam Giganti:
Piecing together a full picture of the patient and their family history is critical to understanding cardiovascular risk.
Preston Pugh:
Life is so precious.
Pam Giganti:
Since losing his brother to a heart attack last year, Preston is focusing on his health with the care he is now receiving.
Preston Pugh:
I have a team of doctors who are looking at me from a holistic standpoint.
Video transcript compiled by Janna Ross for ‘Focusing on You: Innovations in Modern Medicine’, a series of healthcare-related stories airing regularly on WPLG Local 10. For more stories like this one, visit UHealth’s YouTube channel.
Tags: cardiovascular health, Comprehensive Hypertension Center, Dr. Maria Delgado-Lelievre, high blood pressure, hypertension
