What is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure, also called hypertension, is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries.
What is a blood pressure reading?
Your blood pressure reading is expressed with two numbers — for example, 120/80. The first number, known as systolic blood pressure, is a measurement of the force your blood exerts on blood vessel walls as your heart pumps. The second number, known as diastolic blood pressure, is a measurement of the force that blood exerts on blood vessel walls when the heart is at rest between beats.
What is high blood pressure?
High blood pressure means the heart is pumping harder to move blood through the body. This can weaken blood vessels and damage major organs, such as the brain. Left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to stroke.
Blood pressure, like a person's heart rate, will vary occasionally with exercise or stress. For people over age 18, an optimal blood pressure reading is considered 120/80 or lower. A blood pressure reading consistently higher than 120/80 is considered "pre-hypertension." High blood pressure or “stage one hypertension” is a measurement of 140/90 or higher. People who have high blood pressure have one and a half times the risk of having a stroke compared to those who consistently have optimal blood pressure of 120/80. Anyone who has had a previous heart attack, stroke, is diabetic, has kidney disease, high cholesterol or is overweight should speak with a doctor about aggressively controlling and lowering blood pressure. Maintaining a blood pressure reading below 140/90 may reduce the risk of further complications.
Who has high blood pressure?
As many as 73 million Americans have high blood pressure. Of the 1 in every 4 adults wi...
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.... Factors to consider in the selection of antihypertensive drugs include cost, convenience, side effects and interaction with other drugs.
Where can I get more information on high blood pressure?
Speak with a doctor about how to control high blood pressure. The key to keeping blood pressure within the normal range is for a person to commit to being an active participant in their healthcare with a doctor.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health can also provide information about high blood pressure and its treatment. Visit their Web site at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/.
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Blood pressure is measured by mmHg (millimetres of mercury) and it is written as two numbers. The first number is the highest pressure that the heart reaches in beats and the second number is the lowest blood pressure reached between the heart beats. A normal blood pressure level in adults is blood pressure less than 120/80 but for someone with CKD; high blood pressure is if it is 130/80.
Blood pressure is measured by two pressures; the systolic and diastolic. The systolic pressure, the top number, is the pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts. The diastolic pressure, the bottom number, measures the pressure between heartbeats. A normal blood pressure is when the systolic pressure is less than 120mmHg and Diastolic pressure is less than 80mmHg. Hypertension is diagnosed when the systolic pressure is greater than 140mmHg and the diastolic pressure is greater than 90mmHg. The physician may also ask about medical history, family history, life style habits, and medication use that could also contribute to hypertension
As early as the 1800s clinicians began to take a closer look at elevated blood pressure levels, they soon found high correlation between hypertension, stroke, and other heart diseases. They also established that high levels of blood pressure effected both privilege and underprivileged, and within the years they have noted the disease have become more prevalent in the African American culture. Long term studies, such as randomized controlled trial studies, unveiled
High Blood Pressure is anything that alters in peripheral vascular resistance, heart rate, or stroke volume that affects systematic arterial blood pressure. Long term effect of high blood pressure are serious and can cause heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, and retinal damage. Hypertension is another medical word that substitutes the meaning of high blood pressure. It is known as the “silent killer” because it does not create any symptoms. The most common reason for high blood pressure is arteriosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis is the thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries, occurring in old age. Four control systems have a job in maintaining blood pressure. These are the arterial baroreceptor and chemoreceptors’ system, regulation of body fluid volume, the renin- angiotensin system, and vascular autoregulation. Primary hypertension mostly occurs from a defect or malfunction in some or all of these
Vicki is a 42 year-old African American woman who was recently diagnosed with hypertension. Hypertension, also know as high blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the arteries as it flows through them. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry the oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body’s tissues.
Blood pressure is a measurement of the force against the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps blood through your body. Hypertension is another term used to describe high blood pressure. This common condition increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, two leading causes of death for Americans. High blood pressure contributed to more than 362,895 deaths in the United States during 2010. Approximately 67 million persons in the United States have high blood pressure, and only half of those have their condition under control. An estimated 46,000 deaths could be avoided annually if 70% of patients with high blood pressure were treated according to published guidelines (Patel, Datu, Roman, Barton, Ritchey, Wall, Loustalot; 2014).
Systolic blood pressure is 120/80 the diastolic blood pressure within normal range. Any blood pressure above 139/89 is pre-hypertension. Stage one hypertension is between 140-159 or 90-99, Stage two 160-179 or 100-109 diastolic and Stage three 180 above diastolic110. (Lewis, S.M, Heitkemper M.M &Dirksen, S.R 2004) pg 779.
Hypertension is diagnosed by measuring the blood pressure by a device known as the sphygmomanometer. Blood pressure is taken and presented by the systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. The systolic and diastolic numbers will be recorded and compared to a chart of values. At the same time, doctor would also ask for patient’s family history of hypertension and the associated risk factors such as high cholesterol food intake.
Hypertension is viewed as a critical condition because it places a lot of effort on the heart to pump blood to the body. According to Mastalerz-Migasthoug, & Kilis-Pstrusinska (2015), "hypertension (HT) is known as one of the most significant risk factors of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases" (p. 1). It is an effortless task to examine blood pressure. While examining the blood pressure, two numbers will be displayed.
Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, is more often found in males than in females as age increases then reverses around the age of 65. There is about 67 million of American adults that have high blood pressure, which is 31 percent, that comes down to one in every three American adults (High Blood Pressure Facts, CDC.com). Hypertension is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood. Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure (“What Is High Blood Pressure, NIH.com).
Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20045868.
As outlined by Wright, DeSalvo, Fleetwood and Coronel-Mockler (2016), it is essential to raise awareness for individuals regarding the need to control their blood pressure and to offer scientific evidence related
Our arteries and veins are like hoses, they normally have a nice clean flow, but sometimes our blood pressure can be raised when bad things happen to them. Arteries can get clogged, and that happening is much like sticking your finger at the head of the hose to make the water squirt farther, the same amount of liquid has to get through but now with a smaller hole, so it has to go faster (Tamarkin Ph.D., 2011). Blood pressure is always faster right at the end of a ventricular systole, because the blood receives a large push from the contraction and that speeds up all of the blood in the body for a little bit. The blood pressure is also determined by how fast the heart has to beat to get the blood to the body, so higher blood pressure normally occurs when one is doing a lot of physical activity, is angry, or is under stress. The pulse we feel when we feel our wrist or neck is a surge of blood coming from our heart, so when our pulse is faster than that means our blood pressure has risen (Cordova, et al.,
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is the most common cardiovascular disease. Blood pressure refers to the force of blood pushing against artery walls as it flows through the body. High blood pressure can threaten healthy arteries and lead to life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and stroke. Hypertension is the leading cause of stroke and a major cause of heart attack.
The American Heart Association (AHA) is focused in decreasing the negative impacts that high blood pressure has on society. According to the AHA, high blood pressure costs the United States approximately $46 billion annually in healthcare costs, and lost productivity in the workplace (American Heart Association, 2015). Also, nearly 80 million people in the United States suffer from high blood pressure, which is defined as having blood pressure greater than 140/90 mm/hg. This means that these people are at higher risk for other health conditions such as heart attack and stroke. “Target BP” is an initiative between the American Medical Association, and the American Heart Association to help reduce the number of people suffering from high blood