General Concept On Hypertension

High blood pressure is a trait as opposed to a specific disease and represents a quantitative rather than a qualitative deviation from the norm. Any definition of hypertension is therefore arbitrary. Hypertension as such, may be defined as a systolic pressure of 140mmhg or greater or a diastolic pressure of 90mmhg or greater.

System blood pressure rises with age, and the incidences of cardiovascular disease are closely related to average blood pressure at all ages, when blood pressure are within the so-called normal range. About 30% people over the age of 20years in the United States have hypertension.

 

The prevalence increase markedly with age. The cardiovascular risks associated with a given blood pressure are dependent upon the combination of risk factors in the specific individual. These include age, gender, weight, smoking, diabetes mellitus and preexisting vascular disease. Effective management of hypertension therefore requires a holistic approach that is based on identification of those at highest cardiovascular risk and adoption of multifactorial  interventions, targeting not only blood pressure but all modifiable cardiovascular risk factors at the same time.Read More