Hypertension Blood Pressure

United Arab Emirates Shocking Statistics

In 2008, 19.1% of him in the general population had hypertension.

In 2017, 40.8% of his adults had hypertension (Abdulle, Al-Junaibi, & Nagelkerke, 2014).

The affected population is 35-70 years old.

In the early stages, hypertension may not show subjective symptoms.

Delayed diagnosis of hypertension increases the incidence of hypertension. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 9.4 million people die each year from hypertension (WHO, 2017).

high blood pressure facts

Normal blood pressure is given as 120/80 mmHg.

People with blood pressure between 120 and 130 mmHg for systolic and between 80 and 89 mmHg for diastolic are at the verge of developing the hypertension condition (Campbell & Niebylski, 2014).

The first stage of development starts when the blood pressure of a person is between 140 and 150 mmHg for systolic and between 90 and 99 mmHg for diastolic.

The second stage of hypertension starts when the systolic blood pressure of an individual rises above 160 mmHg while the diastolic blood pressure rises above 100 mmHg.

For the aged people with over 60 years of age, having a systolic blood pressure of over 150 mmHg and diastolic pressure of over 90 mmHg indicates a high blood pressure condition (Go et al., 2014).

What is High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure is a condition that develops when the blood vessels become narrow causing the heart to pump blood with much greater force (Sun et al., 2017).

Blood pressure is measured using two figures: Systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure.

Systolic pressure is the highest pressure that is exerted to the arteries when as the heart contracts to push blood to different parts of the body.

Diastolic pressure is the minimum pressure that can be measured on the walls of the arteries when the heart relaxes to fill its compartments with blood.

Example of a measure of blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg. It is translated as first figure over the second figure. First figure (120) indicates the systolic pressure while the second figure (80) is the diastolic pressure.

Normal blood pressure stands at 120/80 mmHg.

Any figures above 130 mmHg for systolic and 85 mmHg for diastolic require treatment to stabilize the blood pressure and bring it down to normal levels.

High blood pressure can cause stroke, chest pains, or other cardiovascular diseases.

Causes of High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a combination of different factors which include:

Smoking is a major contributor to development of hypertension

Obesity or having excess weight (Leung et al., 2016).

Hormonal imbalances

Endocrinal growths

Lack of exercise

Taking in high-fat diets

Using drugs such as steroids

Having the type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Intake of too much salt in the diet.

Consumption of two or more bottles of alcohol per day.

Exposure to high levels of stress

Advanced age

Hereditary factors

Suffering from prolonged kidney infection.

Complications of the adrenal and thyroid glands.

Lack of enough sleep.

Symptoms

Symptoms for high blood pressure are hard to come by hence the condition can remain undetected for years. The following are some of the symptoms that can indicated presence of the hypertension condition:

Sleepiness

Frequent headaches

Forgetfulness and getting confused.

Succumbing into a coma.

Breathing with difficulties.

Blurred vision

Uneven heartbeat

Cardiovascular complications

Stroke and paralysis

Heart attack (Leung et al., 2016).

Managing Hypertension

There are different activities and diets that can be used in the management of the hypertension condition.

Activities

Smoking cessation

Shed off excess body weight through different therapies (Go et al., 2014).

Reduce alcohol intake to less than 2 bottles per day.

Exercise in the gym

Take physical exercise such as jogging, walking, and hiking, running and playing sports.

Ensure you do manual work regularly.

Minimize the levels of stress by learning stress relieve therapies (Loney et al., 2015).

Diet plan

Take low-fat diets.

Incorporate fruit desserts in the menu.

Take a lot of green and raw vegetables.

Reduce the amount of salt intake.

Cut down the amount of soft drinks taken in a day.

Take whole-grain products such as bread.

Use white meat instead of red meat (Go et al., 2014).

Take nuts such as almonds and oats.

Take low-fat milk and dairy products.

Avoid snacks.

Medications of Hypertension

Thiazide diuretics are used to assist the kidney get rid of excess sodium and water from the blood.

Beta Blockers makes the heart beat slower without exerting much force during pumping of blood.

ACE - Angiotensin-converting enzymes inhibitors help relax the walls of the blood vessels hence facilitates smooth blood flow with average pressure (Go et al., 2014).

ARBs – Angiotensin II receptor inhibitors blocks the chemical that is produced in the body and is responsible for causing narrowing of veins and arteries.

Renin inhibitors prevents the body from producing of renin that sparks chemical reactions that lead to high blood pressure.

References

Abdulle, A., Al-Junaibi, A., & Nagelkerke, N. (2014). High blood pressure and its association with body weight among children and adolescents in the United Arab Emirates. PloS one, 9(1), e85129.

Campbell, N. R., & Niebylski, M. L. (2014). Prevention and control of hypertension: developing a global agenda. Current opinion in cardiology, 29(4), 324-330.

Go, A. S., Bauman, M. A., King, S. M. C., Fonarow, G. C., Lawrence, W., Williams, K. A., & Sanchez, E. (2014). An effective approach to high blood pressure control. Hypertension, 63(4), 878-885.

Leung, A. A., Nerenberg, K., Daskalopoulou, S. S., McBrien, K., Zarnke, K. B., Dasgupta, K., ... & Bolli, P. (2016). Hypertension Canada's 2016 Canadian Hypertension Education Program Guidelines for blood pressure measurement, diagnosis, assessment of risk, prevention, and treatment of hypertension. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 32(5), 569-588.

Loney, T., Sheek-Hussein, M., El Sadig, M., Al Dhaheri, S., El Barazi, I., Al Marzouqi, L., & Ali, R. (2015). Hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control, in male South Asians immigrants in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional study.

Sun, J., Steffen, L. M., Ma, C., Liang, Y., & Xi, B. (2017). Definition of pediatric hypertension: are blood pressure measurements on three separate occasions necessary? Hypertension Research.

World Health Organization (WHO. (2017). A global brief on hypertension: silent killer, global public health crisis. People.