Arterial hypertension is a chronic disease that consists of a persistent increase in blood pressure. The causes of hypertension are varied, and it is related to non-modifiable factors such as age (men after 40 years of age and women after menopause) or black people, and to modifiable factors such as sedentary lifestyle, obesity and a diet rich in salt. In addition, hypertension can be secondary to other pathologies, mainly renal vascular pathology, polycystic kidney disease, renin-producing tumors, endocrinological causes or obstructive sleep apnea.
What are the symptoms of hypertension and can you have none?
The main problem with hypertension, as with other cardiovascular risk factors, is that, on many occasions, it does not produce symptoms of any kind, and the patient spends a long period of time until it is diagnosed, with the consequent involvement of target organs such as the heart, kidney or retina. Sometimes there are non-specific symptoms, such as headaches, which help cardiology experts in the diagnosis.
Health risks of hypertension
High blood pressure is a major risk factor. The WHO (World Health Organization) ranks it as the leading factor in global mortality, ahead of dyslipidemia and diabetes. In fact, cardiovascular diseases are currently the leading cause of mortality in Spain. However, hypertension is a treatable pathology. If the physician’s recommendations are not followed, it can lead to serious complications such as cerebral hemorrhage or thrombosis, myocardial infarction, etc., which can be avoided if properly controlled.
Risk factors for arterial hypertension and their relation to lifestyle habits
The main risk factors are related to our lifestyle habits. Any sedentary patient who does not exercise regularly, with a high salt intake in the diet, smokers or overweight patients are more likely to develop hypertension. After the age of 40 it is much more prevalent in men but, after menopause, the prevalence becomes equal in both sexes.
To avoid hypertension, it is necessary to lead an active life, with regular physical exercise (150 minutes a week), avoid salt abuse, stop smoking…, and, in those patients at risk, recommend self-measurement of blood pressure.
Groups more prone to suffer arterial hypertension
All those people with genetic load, in which their relatives are hypertensive, people with a high level of stress, sedentary, smokers, with a poor Mediterranean diet… in all of them there is a greater propensity to suffer arterial hypertension.
2 steps to combat arterial hypertension
There are two main blocks of treatment for hypertension:
- Improvement of lifestyle habits: healthy diet, decrease the consumption of calories, sugars and fats, and increase the practice of physical exercise. These two practices result in better weight control and, if weight is well controlled, it is a simple way to control hypertension.
- Pharmacological treatment: In case changes in lifestyle habits do not work, nowadays there are pharmacological treatments that are very useful to control blood pressure. Given that it is a chronic pathology, it is essential that the patient is constant with the treatments and in the self-control of his or her blood pressure figures.