by Hypertension or High Blood Pressure is the third most significant risk factor for attributable burden of disease in south Asia. In fact, it has been noted that hypertension creates a huge burden on the healthcare system through the need of cardiovascular health needs and on the public health.
What is Hypertension?
High blood pressure or hypertension is defined as the amount of force exerted by the blood against the walls or blood vessels, and the magnitude of this force will depend on the cardiac output and the resistance of the blood vessels.
Hypertension is defined as the disease where the blood pressure goes higher than 140 mmHg over 90 mmHg. This indicates that:
- Systolic reading: This is defined as the pressure at which heart pumps out blood around the ody which is over 140 mmHg.
- Diastolic reading: this is defined as the pressure at which heart refills the blood which is over 90 mmHg.
Range of blood pressure
- Normal blood pressure: This is defined as 120 mmHg over 80 mmHg
- Prehypertension : Systolic : 120-139 and Diastolic: 80-89
- Stage 1 High Blood Pressure (hypertension): Systolic: 140-159 or Diastolic: 90-99
- Stage 2 High Blood Pressure (hypertension): Systolic: 160 or higher or Diastolic: 100 or higher
- Hypertensive Crisis : Systolic: above 180 or Diastolic: above 110
Causes of Hypertension
The causes of hypetension are unknown but there are several factors which exasperate the effect that play a key role:
- Family history of high blood pressure
- Genetics
- Overweight or obesity
- Lack of physical activity
- Excessive salt intake
- Too much alcohol consumption
- Smoking
- Stress
- Older age
- Chronic kidney disease
- Adrenal and thyroid disorders
- Sleep apnoea
- Pregnancy and child birth
- Birth Control Pills
Symptoms of hypertension
Hypertension is usually a silent disease. Most patients don’t experience any symptoms and ti can take years for the condition to reach levels severe enough that symptoms become obvious. Few of the common symptoms of Hypertension include:
- Headaches
- Shortness of breath
- Bleeding nose
- Flushing
- Dizziness
- Chest Pain
- Visual changes
- Blood in the urine
