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Important Facts About Hypertension
By peace | May 15, 2006
Once thought to merely represent an elevation of blood pressure, medical science is starting to recognize that hypertension is a systemic disorder involving many biochemical and physiologic abnormalities, including alterations in blood volume, cardiac output (the amount of blood the heart pumps each minute), kidney function, and cellular resistance to the effects of insulin. Whether there is one yet to be discovered cause of hypertension, or many, is unknown.
It is estimated that nearly 50 million Americans have hypertension, involving almost 20% of all adults and over 60% of all senior citizens. The frequency of hypertension increases with increasing age and body weight, and is higher in african-americans than Caucasians. Half of patients suffering their first heart attack are hypertensive and two thirds of patients suffering their first stroke are significantly hypertensive.
Risk Factors
High blood pressure is the most common chronic medical condition in developed countries and approximately 5% of the adult population has moderate or severe hypertension.
The risk factors for high blood pressure include:
- Smoking
- Overweight
- An unhealthy diet with too much salt and fat
- Stress
- Family history of heart disease
- Lack of exercise
Causes
In over 9 out of 10 cases, no specific cause for hypertension is found. Cases of hypertension with no specific cause are called primary or essential hypertension. A person’s family history or lifestyle may be factors which contribute to hypertension in these cases. It is well known that hypertension is more frequent in certain families.
Numerous elements of the way you live also contribute to raising your blood pressure:
Being overweight
Being sedentary
Stress
Excessive consumption of salt
Alcohol
Generally speaking, several factors will contribute to creating hypertension or causing it to be revealed earlier in a person having a predisposition for hypertension because of his family history. Rarely, hypertension is an indication of another disease. This is most often a kidney disease or the hyperfunctioning of a gland located above the kidneys. The special treatment of this cause will correct the hypertension.
What are the dangers of having high blood pressure?
High blood pressure is a leading risk factor for heart attack and stroke. As there are usually no warning signs for high blood pressure, people may not know of their high blood pressure until they have problems with their heart, brain or kidneys.
Undetected and uncontrolled high blood pressure can cause:
- Heart failure which is due to the enlarging of the heart
- Strokes which are related to the rupture or blockage of blood vessels in the brain
- Kidney failure, which is caused by damage to small blood vessels in the kidney
- Heart attack, which is a result of a blocking of the heart arteries.
To avoid these dangers, it is very important for the patient to take their medication regularly and as prescribed by their doctor.
Topics: Diseases | 1 Comment »
August 11th, 2007 at 6:17 am
[...] High blood pressure is not an illness in itself. In fact, most people who have it feel perfectly well and do not experience any symptoms. However, it is important that it is treated, because if it stays raised for any length of time, it can damage the blood vessels and lead to serious health problems including eye problems, hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis), heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney failure. [...]