Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Hypertension and Its Impact on the Heart

High blood pressure is referred to as hypertension. Even though, hypertension predominantly affects people who are relatively older, teens and even babies are not free from its attack. This condition is rarely seen in the younger generation of people as testified by the fact that only around 2% of United States youth suffer from hypertension. Close to 60 million people in America aged 6 and above experience high blood pressure. This implies that around 20% of Americans suffer from this condition.

The way in which blood pressure readings are taken for children and teens means that readings that are considered by doctors to be high in teens can be lesser than the blood pressure readings that doctors consider above the accepted limits in adults. One of the most dangerous aspects related with hypertension is that almost half of the people having this condition is unaware about it. Therefore, it is highly advisable that people above 18 undergo regular check ups for hypertension.

Usually, the cause of hypertension remains unknown and this type of high blood pressure is termed as primary or essential hypertension. If the cause behind high blood pressure gets diagnosed successfully, it is termed as secondary hypertension. The usual causes of secondary hypertension include hormonal disorders, kidney problems, aorta abnormalities, or a shrinking of specific smaller arteries.

People having a family history are at an increased risk of being affected by high blood pressure. People may become vulnerable to this condition due to inheritance from their parents. However, in some cases, people do not develop hypertension even if their previous generations were considerably troubled by this condition. are a variety of factors that increase the risk of getting affected by high blood pressure. Obesity is one of the major factors among them.

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