High Blood Pressure — Overview, Symptoms, Treatments, and Other Resources.
Information on High Blood Pressure from the National Institutes of Health
High blood pressure (HBP) is a serious condition that can lead to coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, and other health problems. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps out blood. If this pressure rises and stays high over time, it can damage the body in many ways. Read more at National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Information on Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) from Johns Hopkins Medicine
Hypertension is characterized by a persistent increase in the force that the blood exerts upon the walls of the arteries. It is normal for this force to increase with stress or physical exertion, but with hypertension, the patient’s blood pressure is high even at rest...Some 60 million Americans have hypertension, but only about half of them know it...Read more at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Information on Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) from the UCLA Health System
Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure. Blood pressure readings are measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and usually given as two numbers. For example, 120 over 80 (written as 120/80 mmHg). Read more at UCLA Health System
High blood pressure: Essentials from Consumer Reports
What is it? What are the symptoms? How is it diagnosed? How common is it? What will happen? Questions to ask.
Key points about treatments. From ConsumerReports.org
Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure
Interactive guide for lowering blood pressure presented by the National Institutes of Health
Animated Tutorial on systolic and diastolic blood pressure
Interactive animation of systolic and diastolic blood pressure presented by PDRHealth
Fact Sheets and At–a–Glance Reports
The Center for Disease Control presents fact sheets on high blood pressure risks, mortality rates, and other useful statistics.
FactSheet: Closing the Quality Gap - Hypertension Care Strategies
The difference between present treatment success rates and those thought to be achievable using the most advanced standard of care, such as the hypertension best practices described here, is known as a quality gap. The poorer outcomes associated with such a gap and the relative ease with which hypertension can be controlled led the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to examine how hypertension research is translated into medical practice. Read the fact sheet at AHRQ.
Interactive: Test your blood pressure IQ
Take this simple quiz, provided by the American Heart Association, to test your knowledge of high blood pressure.
Video: Home Blood Pressure Monitoring
View a video prepared by the American Heart Association on how to monitor your blood pressure.
Video: Blood pressure
View a video describing blood pressure as presented by UCLA Health System
Video: The Economy of Walking: American Heart Association’s Omnibus Survey on Health and the Economy
View a video describing the benefits of walking for hypertension presented by the American Heart Association (Site contains several other health-related videos.)
Podcast: HHS HealthBeat – Genes, lifestyle, and blood pressure
Listen to an audio presentation describing lifestyle and blood pressure presented by the American Heart Association (Site contains several other health-related audio and video presentations.)
VHA/DoD clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and management of hypertension in the primary care setting
The recommendations for the diagnosis and management of hypertension (HTN) in the primary care setting are organized into 2 major algorithms. Each algorithm, the objectives and recommendations or annotations that accompany it, and the evidence supporting the recommendations are presented below. The quality of evidence (QE) grading (I-III); overall quality (Good, Fair, Poor); and final grade of recommendations (R) (A-D, I) are provided for specific statements. These grades, along with "net effect of the interventions" are defined at the end of the "Major Recommendations" field. Read more at National Guideline Clearinghouse.
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists medical guidelines for clinical practice for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension
Summary of Evidence-Based Recommendations for Management of Hypertension. Major recommendations for the management of hypertension presented by the National Guideline Clearinghouse
Accumulation of common polymorphisms is associated with development of hypertension: a 12-year follow-up from the Ohasama study
Hypertension is a complex multi-factorial and polygenic disorder. Nevertheless, most studies have focused on single-gene effects. Furthermore, a majority of these studies have been cross-sectional and diagnosed hypertension using conventional blood pressure (BP) measurements, which are known to be subject to biases, including the so-called white-coat effect. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Relationships of BMI to Cardiovascular Risk Factors Differ by Ethnicity
The burden of cardiovascular risk associated with obesity disproportionately affects African Americans and little is known about ethnic/racial differences in the relationship of obesity to cardiometabolic risk. This report assesses whether obesity is similarly associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in African Americans and whites of European ancestry. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Assessing Medication Adherence Simultaneously by Electronic Monitoring and Pill Count in Patients With Mild-to-Moderate Hypertension
Background: Poor adherence to antihypertensive medication is one of the major problems in the treatment of hypertension. Electronic monitoring is currently considered to be the gold standard for assessing adherence, but it may trigger patients to open the pill bottle without taking medication or to take out more than prescribed. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Relationship of Blood Pressure Control and Hospitalization Risk to Medication Adherence Among Patients With Hypertension in Taiwan
Background: Despite the efficacy of antihypertensive treatment in preventing cardiovascular complications, there are often problems with medication adherence in hypertensive patients. The objective of this study was to examine the medication adherence and its association with blood pressure (BP) control, cardiovascular disease (CVD) hospitalization, and all-cause hospitalization. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Hypertension and Dementia
Although hypertension is well known as a cause of vascular dementia (VaD), recent findings highlight the role of hypertension in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Recent studies have shown that disruption of diurnal blood pressure (BP) variation is closely associated with cognitive impairment via injury of the small cerebral arteries indicating that long-standing hypertension constitutes a risk of brain matter atrophy or white matter lesions (WMLs). Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Economic Evaluation of Home Blood Pressure Monitoring With or Without Telephonic Behavioral Self-Management in Patients With Hypertension
Background: The Take Control of Your Blood Pressure trial evaluated the effect of a multicomponent telephonic behavioral lifestyle intervention, patient self-monitoring, and both interventions combined compared with usual care on reducing systolic blood pressure during 24 months. The combined intervention led to a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure compared with usual care alone. We examined direct and patient time costs associated with each intervention. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Combined Association of Lipids and Blood Pressure in Relation to Incident Cardiovascular Disease in the Elderly: The Cardiovascular Health Study
Background: Hypertension and dyslipidemia are highly prevalent in the elderly. We studied the combined impact of both conditions on cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Independent Association of Drug-Resistant Hypertension to Reduced Sleep Duration and Efficiency
Background: Experimentally induced sleep deprivation can raise blood pressure (BP) and worsen hypertension. We recently reported a significantly higher prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and reduced rapid eye movement (REM) sleep time in drug-resistant hypertensives compared to controlled hypertensives. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Muscular Strength and Incident Hypertension in Normotensive and Prehypertensive Men
ABSTRACT: The protective effects of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on hypertension (HTN) are well known; however, the association between muscular strength and incidence of HTN has yet to be examined. PURPOSE: This study evaluated the strength-HTN association with and without accounting for CRF. Full text of this abstract is available free through PubMed.
Looking for a Top-Rated
Intenist, Cardiologist, or Endocrinologist?
Consumers' Guide to Top Doctors finds the Doctors Rated Best by other Doctors
To find out who the top doctors are around the country, nonprofit Consumers' CHECKBOOK surveyed roughly 340,000 physicians to tell us which specialists they would want to care for a loved one. The Top Doctors database contains the names of over 23,000 doctors who were mentioned most often. Find top-rated doctors in the fifty largest metropolitan areas, in over thirty-five specialties, and more.
Calculate Your Risk for High Blood Pressure
Source: American Heart Association
Blood pressure categories (click for larger image)
Consumers' Guide to Top Doctors finds the Doctors Rated Best by other Doctors in over 30 specialties.
Search Top Doctors
database of 23,000 top-rated physicians by
Doctor's Name
Search Top
Doctors database of 23,000 top-rated
physicians by Specialty
Hypertension sufferers share their stories.
Download AHA Blood Pressure Tracker
AHA
Consumers' Guide to Hospitals
Which Hospital Should You Choose
"What makes the Consumers' Guide to Hospitals so special?
We've got 30 million answers to that question. That's how many hospital records Consumers' CHECKBOOK sifted through to calculate risk-adjusted death rates and adverse-outcome rates, and that's just part of the data used to rate the hospitals. The organization also sent out more than 280,000 questionnaires to physicians in 53 major metropolitan areas in the United States, asking them to rate their local hospitals; checked ratings of the hospitals by surveyed consumers; checked which hospitals were providing recommended tests and procedures for patients with specified medical problems; and more."
AARP The Magazine
The DASH Eating Plan
Source: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
Return to the Diseases & Treatments A-Z page
