Risks of High Blood Pressure

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There are many risks of high blood pressure. All these risks vary with individual. As we all know that high blood pressure or hypertension is referred as high pressure or tension in the arteries of the heart.

Important Aspects of High Blood Pressure

Lifestyle of a BP Patient

  • Arteries are vessels which carry blood from the pumping heart to all the tissues and organs in the body.
  • Normal blood pressure is always below 120/80. Blood pressure between 120/80 to 139/89 is known as pre-hypertension, and a blood pressure above 140/90 or above is considered as high.
  • An increase in the systolic or diastolic blood pressure results into the risk of developing heart disease, kidney disease, hardening of the arteries, eye damage, and stroke.
  • These complications of hypertension can lead to organ damage. For this reason, the diagnosis of high blood pressure is very important to prevent the complications.
  • The American Heart Association estimates that hypertension affects nearly one in three adults and it is known to be a major public health problem.

Risk of High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is known to be a common condition in US. Specific traits, conditions, and habits are known to be risk factors for high blood pressure. The chief risk factors for high blood pressure are described below.

Older Age

  • Blood pressure can go up with age. If one is male and older than 45 or a female older than 55, there is a great risk of increase in high blood pressure. It is known that over half of the people in US aged 60 and older have high blood pressure.
  • Isolated systolic hypertension is the most general form of HBP in adults. ISH occurs when only systolic blood pressure is high. About 2 out of 3 people over 60 years have ISH.
  • HBP is not a routine part of aging
  • One can easily control the pressure by taking proper steps regarding exercise and diet.

Race/Ethnicity

  • HBP can affect anyone due to today�s lifestyle and race to become richer and happier. In relation to these, people can :
    1. Tend to get HBP in early stage of life
    2. May have more severe HBP
  • HBP risks vary in different groups of Hispanic American adults, for e.g. Puerto Rican American adults have more rates of HBP-related deaths than all other Hispanic groups.
  • In some cases, Cuban Americans have lower rates of HBP

Overweight or Obesity

  • A person is likely to develop prehypertension or high blood pressure, if he /she is overweight or obese.
  • The terms overweight or obesity is referring to the body weight which is greater than what is measured as healthy.

Gender

  • There are fewer chances of adult women to have HBP as compared to adult men.
  • But it is possible that younger women are more likely to develop HBP as compared to men.
  • Women aged 60 and older are having same chances as that of old men to develop this disorder.

Unhealthy Lifestyle Habits

Many times, unhealthy lifestyles can raise the risk for HBP. This includes:

  • Taking too much of sodium i.e. salt in diet
  • Drinking too much alcohol or smoking
  • Not receiving enough of potassium in diet
  • Not doing sufficient physical activity

Other Risk Factors

  • A family history of high blood pressure can also give rise to HBP
  • Long-lasting stress also can know to be the risk for HBP
  • If one is having prehypertension in which blood pressure is in between 120�139/80�89 mmHg. Then this becomes the risk factor for HBP.

Medication

  • A wide variety of prescription and over the counter medicines can cause HBP.
  • Drugs may cause HBP in some people, but remain inactive in others

Here are list of some important medicines that can increase in blood pressure. These are as follow:

  • Pain relievers
  • Cold remedies
  • Diet pills
  • Steroids
  • Antidepressants
  • Decongestants

Along with adults, children or teenagers who are overweight can develop pre-hypertension and HBP. It is also known to becoming more common in this age group. From this we can conclude that it is very important to avoid risks of high blood pressure.