High Blood Pressure - The Silent Killer
High blood pressure occurs when the arteries exert a more than normal resistance to blood flow. Some factors that contribute to high blood pressure are arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, hypertrophy or thickening of the walls of the arteries, as well as excessive contraction of the small arteries or arterioles. Very high blood pressure is also called hypertension. Some other underlying reasons for high blood pressure are kidney malfunction, tumor of the adrenal gland, or a congenital birth defect in the aorta. These conditions are known as secondary hypertension.
While low blood pressure or hypotension is also a deviation from the normal pressure, it is high blood pressure that is considered dangerous. In fact high blood pressure is called the 'silent killer' because it causes severe damage to health without exhibiting any obvious symptoms.
The biggest hazard faced by people with high blood pressure is heart disease and heart attack. When the heart has to pump harder in order to push the blood into the arteries and arterioles, immense stress is imposed on the heart. When the heart is forced to work under stress for prolonged periods of time there is a danger of heart enlargement and cardiac arrest. High blood pressure can also adversely impact kidney functioning. When the blood pressure remains continually high, the blood vessels in the kidneys become thicker and narrower, thus decreasing blood supply and impairing kidney function.
It is estimated that about sixty million Americans, including almost fifty percent of Americans over the age of sixty-five, suffer from high blood pressure. Since high blood pressure betrays very few symptoms, almost forty percent of these people are unaware that they have hypertension. As regards the sex ratio of those afflicted, more middle-aged men have high blood pressure as compared to women, however, with advancing age, the number of women suffering from hypertension is significantly higher than that of men. Among ethnic groups, Afro-Americans and Hispanics have a greater likelihood of developing high blood pressure than other people of races. Clinical studies have established that people with lower educational and income levels have a more marked propensity to hypertension than the affluent sections of society. This may be directly linked to the fact that high blood pressure is often synonymous with poor nutrition, excessive fatty diet, lack of exercise and a generally unhealthy lifestyle.
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