High Blood Pressure - The Basics.

Hypertension means a great different things to different people. The Common definition refers to High Blood Pressure without alluding to any cause.

Because of the silent and insidious way it works in the background i.e. no symptoms it is referred to as the Silent Killer. If left uncontrolled or untreated then High Blood Pressure can cause a variety of illnesses all of which could kill if left to their own devices.

More than 50 million Americans are estimated to have high blood pressure. High blood pressure occurs more often in blacks-in 32% of black adults compared with 23% of whites and 23% of Mexican Americans.

The knock on effect of high blood pressure would appear to be worse for those within the black community. It would appear that the risks and incidences of high blood pressure increase proportionately with age with over three quarters of women and 4/6 of men over the age of 75 being classified as sufferers.

For those suffering with clinical obesity the incidences of high blood pressure rise by 200%.

In the United States, only an estimated two of three people with high blood pressure have been diagnosed. Of these people, about 75% receive drug treatment, and of these, about 45% receive adequate treatment.

When blood pressure is checked, two values are recorded. The higher value reflects the highest pressure in the arteries, which is reached when the heart contracts (during systole). The lower value reflects the lowest pressure in the arteries, which is reached just before the heart begins to contract again (during diastole).

Blood pressure is written as systolic pressure/diastolic pressure-for example, 120/80 mm Hg (millimetres of mercury). This reading is referred to as "120 over 80."High blood pressure is defined as a systolic pressure at rest that averages 140 mm Hg or more, a diastolic pressure at rest that averages 90 mm Hg or more, or both.

However, the higher the blood pressure, the greater the risks-even within the normal blood pressure range-so these limits are somewhat arbitrary. The limits were established because people with blood pressure above these levels are at increasing risk of complications.

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.

However, it is several times more common among blacks than among whites, among men than among women, and among people in lower socioeconomic groups than among those in higher socioeconomic groups. Unlike hypertensive urgency, malignant hypertension may produce a variety of severe symptoms. If untreated, malignant hypertension usually leads to death in 3 to 6 months.