High Blood Pressure

FDA OKs expanded use of prostate cancer drug

(HealthDay)—The approved use of the drug Zytiga has been expanded to include treatment of men with late-stage, hormone therapy-resistant prostate cancer before they undergo chemotherapy, the U.S. Food ...

Medications created Dec 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Low copays, mail-order pharmacies may reduce adherence disparities to hypertension meds

New research suggests that making prescription refills more affordable and easier to get may reduce disparities among hypertension patients.

Health created Dec 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study finds association between oxygen deprivation before birth and ADHD

Children who had in-utero exposure to ischemic-hypoxic conditions, situations during which the brain is deprived of oxygen, were significantly more likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder later in life ...

Attention deficit disorders created Dec 10, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Genetic susceptibility to anthracycline-related congestive heart failure (CHF) in survivors of hematopoietic cell transp

Researchers have identified specific genetic factors that are associated with heart failure in patients who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) for blood cancer.

Medical research created Dec 09, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New risk factor identified for high blood pressure during pregnancy

Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy and the major cause of death for both mother and child in Europe and the U.S. It affects about one in 20 pregnancies. The main symptoms are high blood pressure and protein ...

Medical research created Nov 26, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers find smoking and high blood pressure may be linked to ageing of the brain

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at King's College London have identified several cardiovascular risk factors, including smoking and high blood pressure, which may be associated with the accelerated decline ...

Health created Nov 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Exercise benefits found for pregnancies with high blood pressure

Contrary to popular thought, regular exercise before and during pregnancy could have beneficial effects for women that develop high blood pressure during gestation, human physiology professor Jeff Gilbert said, summarizing ...

Health created Nov 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Discovery of nitric oxide delivery mechanism may point to new avenue for treating high blood pressure

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have shed new light on blood pressure regulation with the discovery of an unexpected mechanism by which hemoglobin controls the delivery of nitric ...

Medical research created Nov 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

High blood pressure in young adults likely to go undiagnosed

Adults 18-24 years old with high blood pressure were 28 percent less likely to be diagnosed during doctor visits than those 60 and older, according to findings presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions ...

Cardiology created Nov 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

High blood pressure damages the brain in early middle age

Uncontrolled high blood pressure damages the brain's structure and function as early as young middle-age, and even the brains of middle-aged people who clinically would not be considered to have hypertension have evidence ...

Neuroscience created Oct 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Nearly half of US adults with high blood pressure have it under control

Nearly half of U.S. adults with high blood pressure had their blood pressure under control by the end of 2010—a significant increase from the start of the decade, researchers reported in the American Heart Association journal ...

Cardiology created Oct 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mom's high blood pressure in pregnancy could affect child's IQ in old age

New research from the University of Helsinki, Finland, suggests that a mother's high blood pressure during pregnancy may have an effect on her child's thinking skills all the way into old age. The study is published in the ...

Neuroscience created Oct 03, 2012 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Patients citing 'high blood pressure' more than doubled the chance of getting new medication

(Medical Xpress)—A patient who cites hypertension as a reason for a doctor's visit is more than twice as likely to be prescribed a new medicine than a patient who doesn't speak up, according to a recent ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Sep 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Starting to snore during pregnancy could indicate risk for high blood pressure, study says

Women who begin snoring during pregnancy are at strong risk for high blood pressure and preeclampsia, according to research from the University of Michigan.

Obstetrics & gynaecology created Sep 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Hypertension (HTN) or high blood pressure, sometimes arterial hypertension, is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. This requires the heart to work harder than normal to circulate blood through the blood vessels. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and diastolic, which depend on whether the heart muscle is contracting (systole) or relaxed (diastole) between beats. Normal blood pressure is at or below 120/80 mmHg. High blood pressure is said to be present if it is persistently at or above 140/90 mmHg.

Hypertension is classified as either primary (essential) hypertension or secondary hypertension; about 90–95% of cases are categorized as "primary hypertension" which means high blood pressure with no obvious underlying medical cause. The remaining 5–10% of cases (secondary hypertension) are caused by other conditions that affect the kidneys, arteries, heart or endocrine system.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attacks), heart failure, aneurysms of the arteries (e.g. aortic aneurysm), peripheral arterial disease and is a cause of chronic kidney disease. Even moderate elevation of arterial blood pressure is associated with a shortened life expectancy. Dietary and lifestyle changes can improve blood pressure control and decrease the risk of associated health complications, although drug treatment is often necessary in patients for whom lifestyle changes prove ineffective or insufficient.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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