HYPERTENSION IN AFRICAN AMERICANS

Hypertension in African Americans

Hypertension in African Americans

Introduction

Chronically high blood pressure is also known as hypertension. High blood pressure is something that increases with age and almost all Americans will face it at some point of time in their lives. In about 25% of the population this condition will become chronic and take the form of hypertension. Hypertension may lead to other kinds of diseases such as stroke, heart disease or kidney failure. It has also been proven that in the American population, Afro-Americans are generally more susceptible to hypertension. The morbidity rate among in this group on account of hypertension is also very high. (Appel , Moore and Obarzanek , 2006)

Statistics shows that not only nearly 35% of African Americans suffer from hypertension, but also the condition will affect them at a relatively early age and they have are 80% more likely to die from a stroke on account of the condition. On account of their propensity to suffer from hypertension they are also vulnerable to heart disease and kidney failure.

Impact On Client

Give African-Americans with diabetes and those with hypertensive kidney disease medications that have been shown to slow the progression of kidney disease, such as ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers, as part of their combination of medications.

The recommendations are spearheaded by the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB), a group co-founded by Dr. Saunders in 1986. They are endorsed by some of the nation's leading health organizations: the American Heart Association, the Association of Black Cardiologists, the Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control and the National Medical Association.

"On average, one African-American dies from high blood pressure every hour, yet barely a quarter of hypertensive African-Americans has the disease under control," says John Flack, M.D., president of ISHIB and chief quality officer at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich. "ISHIB developed these recommendations -- with the participation of the nation's most prominent high blood pressure experts -- to give health care providers the tools to manage high blood pressure appropriately in African-Americans and save lives."

When you get a headache, your head hurts. When you get dizzy, you feel light-headed. When you have high blood pressure, you … feel just fine.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, arrives without the hype. Left untreated, it can lead to life-threatening problems such as stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.

Hypertension is particularly common among blacks, who are more likely to develop the problem than any other racial or ethnic group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Compared to the general population, high blood pressure among blacks develops earlier in life and yields an 80 percent higher chance of death from stroke and a 50 percent higher chance of death from heart disease, according to the CDC. (Elley and Arroll , 2007)

About 35 percent of blacks in the United States have hypertension, accounting for 20 percent of their deaths — twice the percentage of deaths among whites from the same problem, the CDC ...