Hypertension

Proplem Statement

Is hypertension in my family caused by lifestyle or is it a hereditary trait?, Based on the interview with my mother and the information obtained from my aunt who is my mothers sister. I have come to the conclusion that hypertension is hereditary trait in my family.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to identify the risk factors and causes of hypertension in my family and to improve my knowledge of the disease.

Introduction

Hypertension is one of the chronic diseases that has shown the largest decline in mortality over the past four decades. Although the number of deaths in women exceeds those in men, the rate of fall is similar in both sexes. This fall is attributable to the introduction of effective drugs during the past 15 to 20 years.

The cardiovascular system is a very dynamic system facing normal variations in blood pressure during course of the day, variations in emotions, excitement, stress, environment, and so forth because normal blood pressure is the outcome of interplay of many factors. For example, blood pressure is at its peak early morning just before waking up due to a surge of adrenocorticoid hormone (Sowers, 39). However, such a variation during time of the day (diurnal variation) is considered essentially normal and not as part of any disease process. Similarly, an anxious examinee might show an exaggerated elevation in blood pres-sure—so-called “white coat” hypertension. Repeated measurements, made on separate occasions, in a stress-free environment are required for a definitive diagnosis of hypertension.

Discussion

High blood pressure is not only one of the major risk factors for most forms of cardiovascular disease, but it is also a condition with its own risk factors. Age, gender, genetic factors, and ethnicity are those risk factors that are beyond human manipulation. However, those contributing entities that can be artfully tailored according to personal requirements are weight, salt intake, and low consumption of saturated fat, alcohol, and oral contraceptives, which are an important cause of increased arterial pressure in females (Rigaud, 17). Use of unrefined foods including more fiber and bran, active lifestyle, avoidance of stress, and improvement of socioeconomic status in monetarily deprived countries are important preventive strategies unanimously devised by researchers and practitioners.

Hypertension is a complex, multifactorial disease that has both genetic and environmental determinants. More than 95 percent of people have no known cause for high blood pressure, called essential hypertension. Essential, primary, or benign hypertension is a diagnosis of exclusion because it is often familial, and may be precipitated by alcohol abuse and obesity. This type of high pressure does not cause short-term problems, and for it, most course remains asymptomatic and thus undiagnosed. It is compatible with a long life, but later in life, it can cause complications such as myocardial infarction (MI), brain stroke, or others (Prisant, 283).

Patients such as the one whom. I had interviewed. develop accelerated or malignant hypertension having a rapidly rising blood pressure and, if untreated, leads to death in a couple of years. The secondary causes of elevated blood pressure are ...