Due to the influence of living environment and living conditions, more and more people are suffering from symptoms of hypertension. So what is hypertension? What causes hypertension? How to prevent and treat hypertension?
1、 What is hypertension?
Hypertension is a chronic disease characterized by elevated arterial blood pressure, which can be accompanied by functional or organic damage to organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys. On November 15, 2022, the National Health Commission stated that the country has not adjusted the diagnostic criteria for adult hypertension, and the diagnostic criteria for adult hypertension remain at three non same day blood pressure readings exceeding 140/90mmHg.
2、 Causes of hypertension
1. High sodium and low potassium diet: The average daily intake of sodium in the diet increases by 2 grams, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure increase by 2.0 mmHg and 1.2 mmHg, respectively.
2. Overweight and obesity: Men with waist circumference ≥ 90cm or women with waist circumference ≥ 85cm have a risk of developing hypertension that is more than four times higher than those with normal waist circumference.
3. Alcohol consumption
4. Mental stress: Long term excessive mental stress is also a risk factor for hypertension.
5. Genetic factors: Approximately 60% of hypertensive patients have a family history. Nowadays, medicine believes that it is caused by polygenic inheritance, with 30% to 50% of hypertensive patients having a genetic background.
6. Age factor: The incidence rate tends to increase with age, and the incidence rate is high for people over 40 years old.
7. Impact of other diseases: obesity, diabetes, sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome, thyroid disease, renal artery stenosis, renal parenchymal damage, adrenal space occupying lesions, pheochromocytoma, other neuroendocrine tumors, etc.
3、 The treatment principles of hypertension
1. Taking antihypertensive drugs
Taking antihypertensive drugs is currently the main treatment method for hypertension in the elderly, because first of all, considering the decline in physical skills of the elderly, it may not be suitable for other treatment plans. At the same time, middle-aged and elderly people have a higher probability of developing other chronic diseases, which can lead to hypertension. Therefore, taking antihypertensive drugs to treat hypertension is a reasonable choice after comprehensive consideration. However, for middle-aged and elderly people, after suffering from hypertension, they often need to take medication for life.
2. Treatment of primary diseases
In addition to hypertension caused by aging and other factors, it is also common in daily life to have hypertension caused by various primary diseases, such as excessive obesity or chronic kidney disease, which may lead to hypertension. In order to treat hypertension in this situation, it is necessary to first control the condition of the primary disease, which is called solving the root cause.
3. Drug effects
Another situation is the increase in blood pressure caused by taking medication, which is mostly seen in people with other chronic or acute diseases. For hypertension caused by taking medication, the main treatment plan is to wait until the medication is stopped, and the hypertension will naturally be relieved. Alternatively, under the condition of unchanged treatment, other drugs that do not cause hypertension can be used to take medication, which can also significantly improve the condition of hypertension.
4、 How to prevent hypertension
Hypertension is a preventable and controllable disease, and key interventions should be carried out for overweight/obese individuals, long-term high salt diets, and excessive alcohol consumption. Regular health check ups should be conducted to actively control risk factors. For patients with hypertension, regular follow-up and blood pressure measurement should be carried out, especially attention should be paid to early morning blood pressure management, active treatment of hypertension (drug therapy and lifestyle intervention combined), slowing down target organ damage, preventing the occurrence of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and renal complications, and reducing disability and mortality rates.