High blood pressure affects more people in the world, a billion adults aged 25 and over are concerned in the world in 2008. It’s the most important cardiovascular disease affecting adults. According to The Lancet, 9.4 million deaths per year in the world are due to high blood pressure complications. It’s enormous!

Reference: Lim SS, Vos T, Flaxman AD, Danaei G, and al. A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2012 ; 380(9859) : 2224-60.

What is high blood pressure?

High blood pressure is defined as a permanent rise in blood pressure over the normal value (120 / 80 mm Hg, millimeters of mercury). Over 140 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure (SBP); systolic blood pressure corresponds to the pressure of blood ejected from the heart ventricles. Over 90 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure (DBP); diastolic blood pressure corresponds to the pressure of blood coming back to the heart. Note that we have different stages of high blood pressure according to the blood pressure correctly measured with a blood pressure monitor.

What is high blood pressure due to?

Primary or essential high blood pressure has no identified cause, but secondary high blood pressure causes are classified into many different groups.

• Cardiac causes: Coarctation of the aorta or aortic narrowing, Aortic (valve) stenosis, Unilateral renal artery stenosis
• Endocrine causes: Pheochromocytoma, Hypercortisolism or Cushing’s syndrome, Hyperaldosteronism (Conn’s syndrome)
• Renal causes: Acute glomerulonephritis, Chronic glomerulonephritis
• Toxic causes: Alcohol, Smoking, Cocaine, Amphetamine

Risk factors

• Familial predisposition
• Lifestyle: too much salt, too much fat or oil, alcohol, smoke, and/or other drugs

How would you know that you suffer from high blood pressure?

In most cases, high blood pressure is asymptomatic (without symptoms), but we can note :

• Morning Headache
• Dizziness
• Tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears)
• Epistaxis (bleeding from the nose)
• Blurred vision
• Palpitations
• Dyspnea (difficult or labored breathing)

High blood pressure complications

Stroke is the most important known complication of high blood pressure. We also have complications like :

• Myocardial infarction or Heart attack
• Renal failure
• Aortic dissection
• Hypertensive encephalopathy
• Hypertensive retinopathy

How to prevent?

• Avoid alcohol, smoking, and other drugs
• Avoid or reduce the intake of salt, fat, or oil
• Regularly engage in physical activity such as brisk walking 6,000 – 10,000 steps per day
• Prefer fruits and vegetables
• Drink a lot of water
• Measure your blood pressure frequently

Now… Let’s measure our blood pressure to make sure that we don’t have high blood pressure.