High blood pressure

High blood pressure is one of the most common medical conditions in the UK. It is so common that three out of every ten adults in the UK has high blood pressure. Plus half of all people aged over 75 have high blood pressure.

(Source: NHS Choices: Health A-Z: High blood pressure:

23.04.2010)

These stats are worrying but high blood pressure can be prevented or controlled via medication.

But what causes high blood pressure? What are the symptoms of blood pressure? Is there a certain type of person who gets high blood pressure?

An inside look at high blood pressure

This section of the guide discusses these in more detail. It looks at what causes high blood pressure, the risk factors and the symptoms. It also discusses the different types of high blood pressure of which there is more than one. Plus it also includes a section on high blood pressure myths. High blood pressure, along with any other medical condition attracts a fair amount of old wives tales. Which means it is a case of separating fact from fiction.

This section is arranged as follows:

• What is high blood pressure?
• Symptoms of high blood pressure
• Causes of high blood pressure
• Risk factors for high blood pressure
• Types of high blood pressure
• High blood pressure myths

These will give you a better understanding of what high blood pressure and how it affects you.

Many people do not always realise that they have high blood pressure and are completely unaware of this fact. You may be one of these people.

You may have one or several risk factors which increase your chance of developing high blood pressure, e.g. smoking. Or you may have an illness such as diabetes which also increases your risk of getting high blood pressure. Sometimes, people develop high blood pressure for no apparent reason. They may be fit and healthy but still end up with hypertension.

These cases are known as ‘primary hypertension’as there is no obvious cause of their condition although their lifestyle may be to blame.

Then there are people who develop high blood pressure as a result of an underlying medical condition such as kidney disease or a narrowing of the arteries. These are known as ‘secondary hypertension’. Both of these forms of hypertension are discussed further in this section. The next section starts by looking at what high blood pressure is.