Hypertension Can Lead To Premature Death! Read This Article To Know About It.

   Introduction.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is the most common cardiovascular disease. High Blood Pressure if uncontrolled can damage vital organs of the body such as the brain, kidney and heart leading to kidney failure, heart attack and stroke. These serious conditions can lead to premature, unexpected and sudden death.

    

Key Facts About Hypertension.

. Hypertension - or elevated blood pressure - is a serious medical condition that significantly increases the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases.

. An estimated 1.13 billion people worldwide have hypertension, most (two-thirds) living in low- and middle-income countries.

. In 2015, 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women had hypertension.  

. Fewer than 1 in 5 people with hypertension have the problem under control. 

. Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide.

One of the global targets for noncommunicable diseases is to reduce the prevalence of hypertension by 25% by 2025 (baseline 2010).

What is Blood Pressure?

High Blood Pressure: Is the pressure or force with which blood pushes against the walls of the blood vessels as it passes through the body. The blood pressure increases each time the heart contract (beats) and goes down when the heart relaxes.

According to medical science, high blood pressure exists when the systolic pressure is 160mmHg or greater and diastolic pressure of 95mmHg or greater in two or more occasions.

Classification of Hypertension.

1. Primary Hypertension (essential): This is also called benign, it refers to high blood pressure for which no medical cause can be found. This can be due to heredity. About 90%-95% of Hypertension cases are termed 'Primary Hypertension'.

2. Secondary Hypertension: Also called malignant hypertension, this class of Hypertension are caused by underlying disease conditions that affects the kidney, heart, arteries or endocrine system.

Causes of Hypertension.

* Heredity

* Disease Conditions like nephritis, diabetes, heart disease.

Risk Factors of Hypertension.

. Smoking

. Excessive consumption of alcohol

. Obesity

. High intake of salt

. Lack of exercise

. Stress

. High cholesterol levels in the body

What are the high risk factors associated with Hypertension?

The high risk factors associated with Hypertension are people who have the following conditions as listed below:

. Diabetes

. Heart disease

. Obesity

. Kidney disease

. Old age is among the high risk factors

Sings and Symptoms of Hypertension.

1. Headache

2. Insomnia

3. Dizziness

4. Confusion

5. Heart palpitations

6. Nausea and vomiting

7. Vision disorders

Complications of Hypertension.

The excessive pressure on your artery walls caused by high blood pressure can damage your blood vessels, as well as organs in your body. The higher your blood pressure and the longer it goes uncontrolled, the greater the damage.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to complications including:

1. Heart attack or stroke

High blood pressure can cause atherosclerosis (hardening and thickening of the arteries ), which can lead to a heart attack and stroke.

2. Aneurysm 

Increased blood pressure can cause weaken and bulge blood vessels forming an aneurysm. If an aneurysm ruptures, it can be life-threatening.

3. Heart failure

To pump blood against the higher pressure in your vessels, the heart has to work harder. This causes the walls of the heart's pumping chamber to thicken (left ventricular hypertrophy). Eventually, the thickened muscle may have a hard time pumping enough blood to meet your body's needs, which can lead to heart failure.

4. Weakened and narrowed blood vessels in your kidneys

This can prevent these organs from functioning normally.

Thickened, narrowed or torn blood vessels in the eyes. This can result in vision loss.

Metabolic syndrome. This syndrome is a cluster of disorders of your body's metabolism, including increased waist circumference; high triglycerides; low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol; high blood pressure and high insulin levels. These conditions make you more likely to develop diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

5. Trouble with memory or understanding. Uncontrolled high blood pressure may also affect your ability to think, remember and learn. Trouble with memory or understanding concepts is more common in people with high blood pressure.

6. Dementia. 

Narrowed or blocked arteries can limit blood flow to the brain, leading to a certain type of dementia (vascular dementia). A stroke that interrupts blood flow to the brain also can cause vascular dementia.

Treatment regimen for Hypertension.

Changing your lifestyle can go a long way toward controlling high blood pressure. Your doctor may recommend you make lifestyle changes including:

* Eating a heart-healthy diet with less salt

* Getting regular physical activity

* Maintaining a healthy weight or losing weight if you're overweight or obese

* Limiting the amount of alcohol you drink

But sometimes lifestyle changes aren't enough. In addition to diet and exercise, your doctor may recommend medication to lower your blood pressure.

Your blood pressure treatment goal depends on how healthy you are.

Your blood pressure treatment goal should be less than 130/80 mm Hg if:

You are healthy adult age 65 or older

You are healthy adult younger than age 65 with a 10 percent or higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years

You have chronic kidney disease, diabetes or coronary artery disease

Although 120/80 mmHg or lower is the ideal blood pressure goal, doctors are unsure if you need treatment (medications) to reach that level.

If you're age 65 or older, and use of medications produces lower systolic blood pressure (such as less than 130 mm Hg), your medications won't need to be changed unless they cause negative effects to your health or quality of life.

The category of medication your doctor prescribes depends on your blood pressure measurements and your other medical problems. It's helpful if you work together with a team of medical professionals experienced in providing treatment for high blood pressure to develop an individualized treatment plan.

Medications to treat Hypertension.

Thiazide Diuretics: Diuretics, sometimes called water pills, are medications that act on your kidneys to help your body eliminate sodium and water, reducing blood volume.

Thiazide diuretics are often the first, but not the only, choice in high blood pressure medications. Thiazide diuretics include chlorthalidone, hydrochlorothiazide (Microzide) and others.

If you're not taking a diuretic and your blood pressure remains high, talk to your doctor about adding one or replacing a drug you currently take with a diuretic. Diuretics or calcium channel blockers may work better for people of African heritage and older people than do angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors alone. A common side effect of diuretics is increased urination.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors: These medications — such as lisinopril (Zestril), benazepril (Lotensin), captopril (Capoten) and others — help relax blood vessels by blocking the formation of a natural chemical that narrows blood vessels. People with chronic kidney disease may benefit from having an ACE inhibitor as one of their medications.

Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs): These medications help relax blood vessels by blocking the action, not the formation, of a natural chemical that narrows blood vessels. ARBs include candesartan (Atacand), losartan (Cozaar) and others. People with chronic kidney disease may benefit from having an ARB as one of their medications.

Calcium channel blockers: These medications — including amlodipine (Norvasc), diltiazem (Cardizem, Tiazac, others) and others — help relax the muscles of your blood vessels. Some slow your heart rate. Calcium channel blockers may work better for older people and people of African heritage than do ACE inhibitors alone.

Grapefruit juice interacts with some calcium channel blockers, increasing blood levels of the medication and putting you at higher risk of side effects. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you're concerned about interactions.

Additional medications sometimes used to treat high blood pressure are:

If you're having trouble reaching your blood pressure goal with combinations of the above medications, your doctor may prescribe:

Alpha blockers: These medications reduce nerve impulses to blood vessels, reducing the effects of natural chemicals that narrow blood vessels. Alpha blockers include doxazosin (Cardura), prazosin (Minipress) and others.

Alpha-beta blockers: In addition to reducing nerve impulses to blood vessels, alpha-beta blockers slow the heartbeat to reduce the amount of blood that must be pumped through the vessels. Alpha-beta blockers include carvedilol (Coreg) and labetalol (Trandate).

Beta blockers: These medications reduce the workload on your heart and open your blood vessels, causing your heart to beat slower and with less force. Beta blockers include acebutolol (Sectral), atenolol (Tenormin) and others.

Beta blockers aren't usually recommended as the only medication you're prescribed, but they may be effective when combined with other blood pressure medications.

Aldosterone antagonists: Examples are spironolactone (Aldactone) and eplerenone (Inspra). These drugs block the effect of a natural chemical that can lead to salt and fluid retention, which can contribute to high blood pressure.

Renin inhibitors: Aliskiren (Tekturna) slows down the production of renin, an enzyme produced by your kidneys that starts a chain of chemical steps that increases blood pressure.

Aliskiren works by reducing the ability of renin to begin this process. Due to a risk of serious complications, including stroke, you shouldn't take aliskiren with ACE inhibitors or ARBs.

Vasodilators: These medications, including hydralazine and minoxidil, work directly on the muscles in the walls of your arteries, preventing the muscles from tightening and your arteries from narrowing.

Central-acting agents. These medications prevent your brain from signaling your nervous system to increase your heart rate and narrow your blood vessels. Examples include clonidine (Catapres, Kapvay), guanfacine (Intuniv, Tenex) and methyldopa.

To reduce the number of daily medication doses you need, your doctor may prescribe a combination of low-dose medications rather than larger doses of one single drug. In fact, two or more blood pressure drugs often are more effective than one. Sometimes finding the most effective medication or combination of drugs is a matter of trial and error.

If your blood pressure remains stubbornly high despite taking at least three different types of high blood pressure drugs, one of which usually should be a diuretic, you may have resistant hypertension.

People who have controlled high blood pressure but are taking four different types of medications at the same time to achieve that control also are considered to have resistant hypertension. The possibility of a secondary cause of the high blood pressure generally should be reconsidered.

Having resistant hypertension doesn't mean your blood pressure will never get lower. In fact, if you and your doctor can identify what's behind your persistently high blood pressure, there's a good chance you can meet your goal with the help of treatment that's more effective.

Your doctor or hypertension specialist may:

• Evaluate potential causes of your condition and determine if those can be treated
• Review medications you're taking for other conditions and recommend you not take any that worsen your blood pressure
• Recommend that you monitor your blood pressure at home to see if you may have higher blood pressure in the doctor's office (white coat hypertension)
• Suggest healthy lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthy diet with less salt, maintaining a healthy weight and limiting how much alcohol you drink
• Make changes to your high blood pressure medications to come up with the most effective combination and doses.
• Consider adding an aldosterone antagonist such as spironolactone (Aldactone), which may lead to control of resistant hypertension

Some experimental therapies such as catheter-based radiofrequency ablation of renal sympathetic nerves (renal denervation) and electrical stimulation of carotid sinus baroreceptors are being studied.

If you don't take your high blood pressure medications exactly as directed, your blood pressure can pay the price. If you skip doses because you can't afford the medications, because you have side effects or because you simply forget to take your medications, talk to your doctor about solutions. Don't change your treatment without your doctor's guidance.

How to prevent Hypertension?

Reducing salt intake (to less than 5g daily)

Quit smoking

Eating more fruit and vegetables

Being physically active on a regular basis

Avoiding use of tobacco

Reducing alcohol consumption

Limiting the intake of foods high in saturated fats

Eliminating/reducing trans fats in diet

Management of Hypertension.

Reducing and managing mental stress

Regularly checking blood pressure

Treating high blood pressure

Managing other medical conditions