The typical image of a person with hypertension (high blood pressure) is an overweight, overworked male executive with a very short fuse. The truth is, high blood pressure affects people of all ages, races, social classes, sizes and shapes, women as well as mean and even children. Although great strides have been made in recent years to control this condition, often it still goes untreated or uncontrolled.
What causes Hypertension?
In some people, the system that regulates blood pressure goes awry: arterioles throughout the body stay constricted, driving up the pressure in the larger blood vessels. Sustained high blood pressure - above 140/90 mm Hg , according to most experts - is called hypertension. About 90 percent of all people with high blood pressure have "essential" hypertension - meaning that it has no identifiable cause. In the remaining 10 percent of cases, the elevated blood pressure is due to kidney disease, diabetes, or another underlying disorder.
Hypertension is known as the "silent killer" because it doesn't produce any symptoms - at least none that most people are aware of - until considerable damage has already been done. Untreated high blood pressure is the leading cause of strokes, which occur at a rate of a half a million a year in the United States. As a result of hypertension, the heart, because it has to work harder, may become enlarged and less efficient.
