HYPERTENSION; THE SILENT KILLER. PART 1 (DEFINITION AND TYPES)

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DEFINITION

Hypertension is a medical term which denotes a systolic blood pressure greater than 140mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure greater than 90mmHg. In most cases, both systolic and diastolic blood pressures are elevated. In other word, hypertension is also known as high blood pressure.
Hypertension is classified into primary and secondary. In Primary (essential) hypertension, It tends to develop over a long period and generally results in less elevated blood pressure than secondary hypertension. 95 percent of those diagnosed with hypertension have primary hypertension.
Whereas, in Secondary hypertension, hypertension develops more rapidly and often results in higher blood pressure than primary hypertension. Secondary hypertension sometimes develop due to certain prescription and medications, while others develop due to some congenital heart defects, abnormalities of the kidneys, illicit drug use, and adrenal gland tumors.

STAGES OF HYPERTENSION

Stage 1 (Mild)
Systolic BP: 140-159
Diastolic BP: 90-99

Stage 2 (Moderate)
Systolic BP: 160-179
Diastolic BP: 100-109

Stage 3 (Severe)
Systolic BP: 190-209
Diastolic BP: 110-119

Stage 4 (Very Severe)
Systolic BP: > 209
Diastolic BP: > 119

TYPES OF HYPERTENSION

• Volume loading Hypertention: This refers to excessive accumulation of extracellular fluid, which may occur in tumour of adrenal glands (aldosteronism).

• Psychosocial Hypertension: This is as a result of some psychosocial stressors like personality, occupational stress, mental health, loss of loved ones, social support/isolation, and sleep difficulty.

• Salt-induced Hypertension: This is as a result of excessive intake of salt for a very long time; as this result in hyper-depolarization of the heart due to excessive accumulation of Na+ ion from this salt intake.

• Goldblatt Hypertension: This one is as a result of renal artery constriction.

• Neurogenic Hypertension: This is an acute hypertension acaused by excessive sympathetic stimulation; due to fear, anger and some other excitatory factors.

• Pregnancy-induced Hypertension: This can be seen in some pregnant women. It subsides immediately after delivery.

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Watch out for Part 2 where I'll be talking on the Symptoms, Effect and Treatment for Hypertension. Please stay tuned.

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