Blood pressureis the force that a person’s blood exerts against the walls of their blood vessels. This pressure depends on the resistance of the blood vessels and how hard the heart has to work.
Hypertension is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, includingstroke,heart attack,heart failure, andaneurysm.
Symptoms
Hypertension is generally a silent condition. Most people with high blood pressure have no signs or symptoms, even if blood pressure readings reach dangerously high levels.
- headaches
- shortness of breath
- nosebleeds
- flushing
- dizziness
- chest pain
- visual changes
- blood in the urine
Causes
Primary hypertension – Primary hypertension is also called essential hypertension. This kind of hypertension develops over time with no identifiable cause. Most people have this type of high blood pressure.
Secondary hypertension – Secondary hypertension often occurs quickly and can become more severe than primary hypertension. Several conditions that may cause secondary hypertension include:
- kidney disease
- obstructive sleep apnoea
- congenital heart defects
- problems with your thyroid
- side effects of medications
- alcohol abuseor chronic use
- adrenal glandproblems
- certain endocrine tumours
Risk factors
- Age. Until about age 64, high blood pressure is more common in men. Women are more likely to develop high blood pressure after age 65.
- Family history.
- Being overweight or obese.
- Not being physically active.
- Using tobacco.
- Too much salt (sodium) in diet.
- Too little potassium in diet.
- Drinking too much alcohol.
- Stress.
Complications
- Heart attack or stroke.
- Aneurysm
- Heart failure.
- Weakened and narrowed blood vessels inthe kidneys.
- Thickened, narrowed or torn blood vessels in the eyes.
- Metabolic syndrome.
- Trouble with memory or understanding.
- Dementia.