Hypertension refers to a condition characterized by high blood pressure that poses a threat to human health in the sense that high blood pressure presents a huge threat to blood vessels as well as the heart. Primary and secondary hypertension are the two main types of the condition with the primary one being caused by increasing rates of blood pressure that is not related to any other medical condition while the second one is as a result of other illnesses that cause an increased rate of blood pressure (Butalia et al., 2018). However, other types of diabetes exist based on other aspects of classification. A good example is a gestational hypertension which occurs during the pregnancy period in women.
Hypertension is associated with a number of risk factors that put someone’s health under a greater probability of suffering from High Blood Pressure (Leung et al., 2017). Some of these risk factors touch on the lifestyle a person leads while other factors are attributed to the background the person comes from. Age is the first risk factor for Hypertension as blood pressure increases gradually as one age. This is attributed to the fact that blood vessels become narrow and stiffen due to the buildup of plaque. Ethnicity is also a risk factor for the condition in the sense that some ethnic groups are at a higher risk of developing the condition than other ethnic groups.
Thirdly, alcohol and tobacco use can lead to Hypertension as the use of these drugs tend to increase blood pressure (Dzudie et al., 2018). Another risk factor is sex as various reviews depict men as having a higher probability of developing the condition than females. Women are exposed to a higher risk of developing the condition only after menopause. Lastly, various health conditions increase the probability of developing hypertension owing to the fact that they result in increased blood pressure in patients.
References
Butalia, S., Audibert, F., Côté, A. M., Firoz, T., Logan, A. G., Magee, L. A., … & Nerenberg, K. A. (2018). Hypertension Canada’s 2018 guidelines for the management of hypertension in pregnancy. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 34(5), 526-531. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjca.2018.02.021
Dzudie, A., Rayner, B., Ojji, D., Schutte, A. E., Twagirumukiza, M., Damasceno, A., … & Onwubere, B. (2018). Roadmap to achieve 25% hypertension control in Africa by 2025. Global heart, 13(1), 45-59. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gheart.2017.06.001
Leung, A. A., Daskalopoulou, S. S., Dasgupta, K., McBrien, K., Butalia, S., Zarnke, K. B., … & Gelfer, M. (2017). Hypertension Canada’s 2017 guidelines for diagnosis, risk assessment, prevention, and treatment of hypertension in adults. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 33(5), 557-576. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjca.2017.03.005
