Hypertension or high blood pressure is considered as a chronic condition. It is the main cause of damage to the heart muscle and the arteries due to elevation of the arterial blood pressure. In addition, this illness is a major risk factor for other diseases, such as: stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure and arterial aneurysm, and is a leading cause of chronic kidney failure. It is divided into primary (essential) hypertension in 90-95% of cases and secondary hypertension in 5-10 %. The first type occurs without obvious medical causes and the second type occurs due to abnormalities in the kidneys, arteries, heart or endocrine system. Finally, dietary and lifestyle factors may control and improve the blood pressure and reduce the risks which affect the cardiovascular system.
Causes:
There are many risk factors that may increase the risk of hypertension, for example: smoking, stress, potassium deficiency (hypokalemia), obesity, salt intake (sodium), alcohol intake and vitamin D deficiency. Additionally, age may increase the risk of this disease and recently some inherited genetic mutations and family history of hypertension have been considered as the main risk. In some cases, increased levels of renin secreted by the kidney may play the main role in this illness.