Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: What is it and who does it affect the most?

What is Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension?

This disease, despite not being talked about much, can drastically affect people who suffer from it. This condition makes pulmonary artery pressure rises and as a result affects the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the lungs. As a result, the heart works too hard to pump blood through the lungs, causing the heart muscle weakens and fails.

What are its causes and warning symptoms?

Being a silent disease, many patients do not know that they have it, since according to the National Registry of Patients with Orphan Diseases, 80% of the pathologies detected are of genetic origin.

However, there are other factors that can make this disease more likely, such as family history of PAH, congenital heart diseasemake use of some weight loss medications, consumption of illegal substancessuch as cocaine, among others, which can be both the cause and a factor that aggravates the severity of this disease.

Symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, temporary loss of consciousness, dizziness, fainting, swollen ankles or legs, palpitations, bluish discoloration of the skin or lips, that make the patient feel more tired or fatigued.

“It is important to specify that all these symptoms are not only a consequence of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, but also They can be related to more common diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia and stress states.. Hence the importance of reaching an adequate and timely diagnosis, since otherwise the treatment will be delayed and the condition will continue to advance and affect the quality of life of the people who suffer from it,” says Diego Fernando Gil, executive director of the Colombian Federation of Rare Diseases, FECOER.