High blood pressure damages your heart vessels,
raising the risk of stroke, kidney failure, heart disease, and heart attack.(1)
Heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S. and stroke is number three.(2)
One in four American adults has high blood pressure.(3)
High blood pressure affects more than 50 million people in the United States and is
responsible for about 700,000 deaths a year.(4)
Consistently high blood pressure can lead to serious medical problems like:(5)
* Arteriosclerosis ("hardening of the arteries"). High blood pressure harms the
arteries by making them thick and stiff. This speeds up the development of cholesterol and
fats in the blood vessels.
* Heart attack. From reduced blood flow.
* Enlarged heart. High blood pressure causes the heart to work harder, which, over time,
causes the heart to thicken and stretch.
* Kidney damage. Over a number of years, high blood pressure can narrow and thicken the
blood vessels of the kidney, restricting the ability of the kidney to filter fluid, which,
in turn, causes waste build-up in the blood.
* Stroke. High blood pressure can harm the arteries. This may cause them to narrow faster,
leaving them at greater risk for blockage, causing a thrombotic stroke. A weakened blood
vessel may break in the brain, causing a hemorrhagic stroke.
Your blood pressure is greatest when the heart contracts and is pumping blood. This is
called systolic pressure and is the upper number in a blood pressure reading. When the
heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is the diastolic pressure
and is the lower number in a blood pressure reading. So, blood pressure readings are
expressed as: systolic / diastolic(6)
A blood pressure reading less than 140/90 is considered normal. However, a blood
pressure reading below 120/80 is better for your heart and arteries.(7)
A normal blood pressure reading is less than 130/85. High blood pressure is when your
blood pressure is 140/90 or higher.(8)
"An example of a normal, healthy blood pressure reading would be 120/80.... Everyone
should have their blood pressure checked at least every two years, more often if you are
in a high risk group." The high risk group also includes men over 40 and women over
50.(9)
"Most doctors now believe that 140/90 is too high. Recent studies have shown that
persons whose diastolic pressures are kept below 85 do much better in the long run.
... I view 130/80 as the optimal target at virtually any
age."(10)
Data on males and race
High blood pressure develops earlier and is more
severe in African Americans than in whites.(11)
Men have high blood pressure more often than women in the early and middle years, but
after menopause, women are more likely to have high blood pressure than men. More the
one-half of Americans over age 65 have high blood pressure.(12)
The following are heart attack risks from the Framingham Heart Study, which is an ongoing
study of citizens in a suburb of Boston.(13)
* "... the average 40-year-old white man in the United States has a one-in-two risk
of developing heart disease within his lifetime, while a woman has a one-in-three
risk."
* Daniel Levy of the Boston University School of Medicine, who led the study, said the
numbers can help public health officials plan for the future.
* "The fact that the average 50-year-old woman is three times more likely to develop
some form of heart disease than breast cancer has important implications for public
health," explained Daniel Levy of the Boston University School of Medicine, leader of
the Framingham Heart Study.
* After the age of 40, men had a one-in-two risk and the women in the study had a
one-in-three risk.
* This risk fell to one-in-three for men by the time they reached 70 and one-in-four for
women who made it to 70 without getting heart disease.
High blood pressure (HBP) facts from the American Heart Association:(14)
* Men are at greater risk than women until age 55.
* The 1995 death rate from HBP for black males was 356% higher than that for white males
(6.8 v. 31.0 per 100,000).
* At ages 20-34, men are 253% more likely to have HBP than are women (8.6 v. 3.4 per
100,000); at ages 35-44, men are 165% more likely to have HBP than are women (20.9 v. 12.7
per 100,000); at ages 45-54 men are 136% more likely to have HBP than are women (34.1 v.
25.1 per 100,000).
* Blacks and whites in the Southeastern U.S. have a greater prevalence of HBP and higher
death rates from strokes than those from other regions of the country.
* In 1995 the death rate from HBP for black males was 355% higher than for white males.
(And 352% higher for black females than for white females.)
* 71% of non-Hispanic blacks ages 60 and older have HBP.
* Blacks develop HBP at an earlier age and, at any decade of life, hypertension is more
severe in blacks than in whites, resulting in higher rates of non-fatal strokes, fatal
strokes, death from heart disease, and end-stage renal disease.
The prevalence of HBP in adults age 20 and older is 24.4% for non-Hispanic white males,
35.0% for non-Hispanic black males, and 25.2% for Mexican-American Males.(15)
16.8% of Mexican-American males, 22.8% of Cuban-American males, and 15.6% of Puerto Rican
males have HBP.(16)
9.7% of Asian-American males have HBP.(17)
73% of Japanese-American men age 71-93 have HBP.(18)
10.3% of American Indian / Alaska Native men have HBP.(19)
Stroke Facts
Strokes continues to be a pressing health
problem:(20)
* Approximately 550,000 people have a new or recurrent stroke each year and there are
nearly 4 million stroke survivors in the U.S.
* The 1995 estimated cost of stroke-related health care is a staggering 20 to 40 billion
dollars measured in both health-care dollars and lost productivity. (American Heart
Association, Heart and Stroke Facts 1994 Statistical Supplement)
* The risk of strokes rises proportionately with increasing blood pressure.
Stroke and cardiovascular disease (CVD) facts from the American Heart Association:(21)
* Incidences of strokes are 19% higher for males than for females, the difference is
greater for people under the age of 65.
* 2/3 of men who have a stroke die within 12 years. Long-term survivorship is poorer in
men than in women.
* The 1995 death rates for stroke were 97% higher for black males than for white males
(26.5 for white males and 52.2 for black males). (And 71% higher for black females than
for white females.)
* African-American men and women are 2.5 times more likely to die of stroke than are
whites.
* CVD is the leading cause of death for white, black, and hispanic males.
* CVD killed over 455,000 males in 1995 while cancer killed more than 281,000.
* The 1995 death rate for CVD was 49% higher for black males than for white males (221.5
v. 330.9 per 100,000). (And 67% higher for black females than for white females.)
* Heart attacks are the single biggest killer of American males.
* 48% of men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease had no previous evidence of the
disease.
Children
Children and High Blood Pressure facts from the
Hypertension Network:(22)
High blood pressure (hypertension) in children is uncommon but parents should be aware
that it can occur. High blood pressure in children is often due to an identifiable cause.
Below the age of ten, the three most common types are kidney disease (including narrowing
of a renal artery), coarctation of the aorta, and a variety of disorders of the adrenal
glands.
* Kidney disease. One or both of the arteries supplying the kidneys (renal arteries) may
be narrowed by a process called fibromuscular dysplasia, which consists of one or more
fibrous bands which constrict the vessel, and restricts the blood flow to the kidney. The
technical term for such a narrowing is renal artery stenosis. Relief of the narrowing by
surgery or angioplasty (balloon dilation) can cure the hypertension.
* Coarctation of the aorta. The aorta is the large artery which leaves the heart and goes
down to the abdomen. Coarctation means a narrowing. This is usually found just below the
point where the two arteries going to the arms (subclavian arteries) come off. There is a
pressure gradient across the narrowing, so the blood pressure in the arms is higher than
in the legs. Hypertension can be cured by surgical removal of the narrowing.
* Disorders of the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are small glands which sit on top of
the kidneys. They make hormones that, when produced in excess, raise the blood pressure.
This can happen either because of a tumor such as a pheochromocytoma, which makes the
hormones norepinephrine and epinephrine or because of an inborn error of metabolism.
Page 1 2
3 4 5
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,
9-18-98. www.nhlbi.nih.gov
|
