A Basic Understanding of High Blood Pressure.
by Stephen Morgan
The Phrase High Blood Pressure conjures up a variety of things to all people. Common definitions refer to the condition without refereeing to the cause.
Dubbed the Silent Killer because of the insidious way it works away in the background of someone's health. High blood pressure if left untreated and ignored can lead to lethal complications in a wide variety of illnesses.
It has been estimated that in the USA there are potentially 50 million sufferers of Hypertension / High Blood Pressure. In the USA initial investigations would seem to highlight that within the black community 32% off the community how to high blood pressure as opposed to 23% within the White and Hispanic communities
Also, the consequences of high blood pressure are worse for blacks.High blood pressure occurs more often in older people-in about three fourths of women and almost two thirds of men aged 75 or older, compared with only about one fourth of people aged 20 to 74.
For those suffering with clinical obesity the incidences of high blood pressure rise by 200%.
Within the USA it has been calculated that possibly only two thirds of the people suffering from hypertension have been diagnosed. The treatment figures for high blood pressure and associated conditions are even lower with only 75% of the diagnosed sufferers actually receiving medical treatment.
Two terms are used when calculating high blood pressure, the systolic which is the first and greater of the two figures and refers to the highest pressure of the Arteries. The diastolic figure is the second figure calculated and represents the pressure in the hall product to the process of contraction again.
Blood pressure figures are written as two numbers, the first over the second (120 over 80) and is calculated in millimetres of mercury which is the traditional form of measurement In the early days it was felt that high blood pressure started when the diastolic pressure walls at a minimum average over 140 mm Hg all the diastolic figure was greater than 90 mm Hg.
However it has now been recognized that even these figures may be arbitrary as even the smallest increase in blood pressure is a risk. These initial limits where established some time ago when the knowledge of associated medical conditions was not as comprehensive as it is now.
In most people with high blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic pressures are high. The exception is older people who commonly have high systolic pressure (140 mm Hg or more) with normal or low diastolic pressure (less than 90 mm Hg).
This condition has been referred to as "isolated systolic hypertension". Where the blood pressure is in excess of 180/110 mm Hg and there is an absence of associate symptoms then the entire condition is referred to as a hypertensive urgency."
Malignant hypertension, a particularly severe form of high blood pressure, is a hypertensive emergency. Blood pressure is at least 210/120 mm Hg. It occurs in only about 1 of 200 people who have high blood pressure.
Again the incidences of malignant hypertension is greater within the black community and amongst those people from the socioeconomic groups. Malignant hypertension unlike hypertensive urgency produces a variety of symptoms. Malignant hypertension if left untreated can lead to fatal consequences within six months.
Scott James writes regularly on Living With High Blood Pressure issues and more information on the above can be found at Living With High Blood Pressure ,Living With High Blood Pressure Symptom and also at http://www.livingwithhighbloodpressure.net/treatment.html You can get a unique content version of this article.
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