Hypertension
HYPERTENSION:
Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure is elevated. It is also referred to as high blood pressure or shortened to HT, HTN, or HPN. The word “hypertension”, by itself, normally refers to systemic, arterial hypertension.
Hypertension can be classified as either essential (primary) or secondary. Essential or primary hypertension means that no medical cause can be found to explain the raised blood pressure. It is common. About 90-95% of hypertension is essential hypertension.[2][3][4][5] Secondary hypertension indicates that the high blood pressure is a result of (i.e., secondary to) another condition, such as kidney disease or tumours(adrenal adenoma or pheochromocytoma).
Persistent hypertension is one of the risk factors for strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and arterial aneurysm, and is a leading cause of chronic renal failure.[6] Even moderate elevation of arterial blood pressure leads to shortened life expectancy. At severely high pressures, defined as mean arterial pressures 50% or more above average, a person can expect to live no more than a few years unless appropriately treated.[7] Beginning at a systolic pressure (which is peak pressure in the arteries, which occurs near the end of the cardiac cycle when the ventricles are contracting) of 115 mmHgand diastolic pressure (which is minimum pressure in the arteries, which occurs near the beginning of the cardiac cycle when the ventricles are filled with blood) of 75 mmHg (commonly written as 115/75 mmHg), cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk doubles for each increment of 20/10 mmHg.[8]
A recent classification recommends blood pressure criteria for defining normal blood pressure, prehypertension, hypertension (stages I and II), and isolated systolic hypertension, which is a common occurrence among the elderly. These readings are based on the average of seated blood pressure readings that were properly measured during 2 or more office visits. In individuals older than 50 years, hypertension is considered to be present when a person’s blood pressure is consistently at least 140 mmHg systolic or 90 mmHg diastolic. Patients with blood pressures over 130/80 mmHg along with Type 1 or Type 2diabetes, or kidney disease require further treatment.[8]
| Classification | Systolic pressure | Diastolic pressure | ||
| mmHg | kPa (kN/m2) | mmHg | kPa (kN/m2) | |
| Normal | 90–119 | 12–15.9 | 60–79 | 8.0–10.5 |
| Prehypertension | 120–139 | 16.0–18.5 | 80–89 | 10.7–11.9 |
| Stage 1 | 140–159 | 18.7–21.2 | 90–99 | 12.0–13.2 |
| Stage 2 | ≥160 | ≥21.3 | ≥100 | ≥13.3 |
| Isolated systolic hypertension |
≥140 | ≥18.7 | <90 | <12.0 |
| Source: American Heart Association (2003).[8] | ||||
.
.
Signs and symptoms
Mild to moderate essential hypertension is greatly asymptomatic.[15][16][17][18][19] Accelerated hypertension is associated with headache, somnolence, confusion, visual disturbances, and nausea and vomiting(hypertensive encephalopathy).
Retinas are affected with narrowing of arterial diameter to less than 50% of venous diameter, copper or silver wire appearance, exudates, hemorrhages, or papilledema.[20] Some signs and symptoms are especially important in infants and neonates such as failure to thrive, seizure, irritability or lethargy, and respiratory distress.[21] While in children hypertension may cause headache, fatigue, blurred vision, epistaxis, and bell palsy.[21]
Health – Heart Attacks and Drinking Warm Water
This is a very good health tips. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about heart attack. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.
For those who like to drink cold water, this health tip is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this “sludge” reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A serious note about heart attacks – You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive.
A cardiologist says if everyone who spread this message to 10 people, you can be sure that we’ll save at least one life.
Understanding Heart Disease
Heart Basics
.
.
Heart Disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety for different diseases affecting the heart. As of 2007, it is the leading cause of death in the United States,[1][2] England, Canada and Wales,[3] killing one person every 34 seconds in the United States alone.[4]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Types of heart disease
Coronary heart disease
Coronary artery disease is a disease of the artery caused by the accumulation of atheromatous plaques within the walls of the arteries that supply the myocardium. Angina pectoris (chest pain) and myocardial infarction (heart attack) are symptoms of and conditions caused by coronary heart disease.
Over 459,000 Americans die of coronary heart disease every year[5]. In the United Kingdom, 101,000 deaths annually are due to coronary heart disease.[6]
.
How Heart Attack is happening inside the body?
.
Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy literally means “heart muscle disease” (Myo= muscle, pathy= disease) It is the deterioration of the function of the myocardium (i.e., the actual heart muscle) for any reason. People with cardiomyopathy are often at risk of arrhythmia and/or sudden cardiac death.
- Extrinsic cardiomyopathies – cardiomyopathies where the primary pathology is outside the myocardium itself. Most cardiomyopathies are extrinsic, because by far the most common cause of a cardiomyopathy is ischemia. The World Health Organization calls these specific cardiomyopathies[citation needed]:
- Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
- Coronary artery disease
- Congenital heart disease
- Nutritional diseases affecting the heart
- Ischemic (or ischaemic) cardiomyopathy
- Hypertensive cardiomyopathy
- Valvular cardiomyopathy – see also Valvular heart disease below
- Inflammatory cardiomyopathy – see also Inflammatory heart disease below
- Cardiomyopathy secondary to a systemic metabolic disease
- Intrinsic cardiomyopathies – weakness in the muscle of the heart that is not due to an identifiable external cause.
- Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) – most common form, and one of the leading indications for heart transplantation. In DCM the heart (especially the left ventricle) is enlarged and the pumping function is diminished.
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM or HOCM) – genetic disorder caused by various mutations in genes encoding sarcomeric proteins. In HCM the heart muscle is thickened, which can obstruct blood flow and prevent the heart from functioning properly.
- Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) – arises from an electrical disturbance of the heart in which heart muscle is replaced by fibrous scar tissue. The right ventricle is generally most affected.
- Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) – least common cardiomyopathy. The walls of the ventricles are stiff, but may not be thickened, and resist the normal filling of the heart with blood. ** Noncompaction Cardiomyopathy – the left ventricle wall has failed to properly grow from birth and such has a spongy appearance when viewed during an echocardiogram.
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease is any of a number of specific diseases that affect the heart itself and/or the blood vessel system, especially the veins and arteries leading to and from the heart. Research on disease dimorphism suggests that women who suffer with cardiovascular disease usually suffer from forms that affect the blood vessels while men usually suffer from forms that affect the heart muscle itself. Known or associated causes of cardiovascular disease include diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperhomocysteinemia and hypercholesterolemia.
Types of cardiovascular disease include:
Ischaemic heart disease
- Ischaemic heart disease – another disease of the heart itself, characterized by reduced blood supply to the organs.
Heart failure
Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure (or CHF), and congestive cardiac failure (CCF), is a condition that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the heart to fill with or pump a sufficient amount of blood throughout the body. Therefore leading to the heart and body’s failure.
- Cor pulmonale, a failure of the right side of the heart.
Hypertensive heart disease
Hypertensive heart disease is heart disease caused by high blood pressure, especially localised high blood pressure. Conditions that can be caused by hypertensive heart disease include:
- Left ventricular hypertrophy
- Coronary heart disease
- (Congestive) heart failure
- Hypertensive cardiomyopathy
- Cardiac arrhythmias
Inflammatory heart disease
Inflammatory heart disease involves inflammation of the heart muscle and/or the tissue surrounding it.
- Endocarditis – inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. The most common structures involved are the heart valves.
- Inflammatory cardiomegaly
- Myocarditis – inflammation of the myocardium, the muscular part of the heart.
Valvular heart disease
Valvular heart disease is disease process that affects one or more valves of the heart. The valves in the right side of the heart are the tricuspid valve and the pulmonic valve. The valves in the left side of the heart are the mitral valve and the aortic valve.
.
.
See also
- - Aneurysm
- - Diet and heart disease
- - Endothelium-derived relaxing factor
- - High blood pressure (Hypertension)
- - Thrombosis
- - Oral hygiene
- – Pericarditis
.
.
References
- ^ Division of Vital Statistics; Arialdi M. Miniño, M.P.H., Melonie P. Heron, Ph.D., Sherry L. Murphy, B.S., Kenneth D. Kochanek, M.A. (2007-08-21). “Deaths: Final data for 2004″ (PDF). National Vital Statistics Reports (United States: Center for Disease Control) 55 (19): 7. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ White House News. “American Heart Month, 2007″. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
- ^ National Statistics Press Release 25 May 2006
- ^ Hitti, Miranda (2004-12-07). “Heart Disease Kills Every 34 Seconds in U.S.”. Fox News – WebMD. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ Williams MJ, Restieaux NJ, Low CJ (February 1998). “Myocardial infarction in young people with normal coronary arteries”. Heart 79 (2): 191–4. PMID 9538315.
- ^ American Heart Association: Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics-2008 Update. AHA, Dallas, Texas, 2008
- ^ British Heart Statistics report
- ^ “WHO Disease and injury country estimates”. World Health Organization. 2009. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2009.
.
.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Click here for FREE ONLINE CONSULTATION
About | Human Body | Degenerative Diseases | Multimedia
My Heart & Yours, Protect it!
