Hypertension, Cardiology, Primary Health and Patient Care

Hypertension and Risk Assessment

Primary hypertension or essential hypertension which has multiple risk factors such as obesity and a family history of high blood pressure is more common in adolescents. It. Unhealthy lifestyle practices such as high sodium intake, drinking of alcohol, lack of physical activities are also risk factors for hypertension. Secondary hypertension can be determined through laboratory tests. Sometimes it is passed down from mother to child during the time of pregnancy. In such cases effective lifestyle changes such as maintaining a healthy diet, proper physical exercises, etc. along with antihypertensive medication are necessary for the treatment. Even for individuals not affected with hypertension it is recommended to maintain at least one healthy lifestyle activity to prevent the risk of hypertension in their later life. Lifestyle modifications are immensely recommended for individuals with pre-hypertension as adapting such lifestyle modification will surely help such individuals to avoid antihypertensive medication and also it will effectively control their blood pressure levels. Additional tests should be performed to determine whether damage has been caused by hypertension to the heart, eyes, and kidneys. Diabetes and high cholesterol levels are also considered as additional risk factors for the development of heart disease and may require treatment. Thus these conditions require proper examinations to determine the severity of the disease and to determine the required medication and treatment.