High Blood Pressure
Also called: Benign essential hypertension, Essential hypertension, HBP, HTN, HypertensionBasics
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Summary
Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. Each time your heart beats, it pumps blood into the arteries. Your blood pressure is highest when your heart beats, pumping the blood. This is called systolic pressure. When your heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is called diastolic pressure.
Your blood pressure reading uses these two numbers. Usually the systolic number comes before or above the diastolic number. A reading of
- 119/79 or lower is normal blood pressure
- 140/90 or higher is high blood pressure
- Between 120 and 139 for the top number, or between 80 and 89 for the bottom number is called prehypertension. Prehypertension means you may end up with high blood pressure, unless you take steps to prevent it.
High blood pressure usually has no symptoms, but it can cause serious problems such as stroke, heart failure, heart attack and kidney failure.
You can control high blood pressure through healthy lifestyle habits such as exercise and the DASH diet and taking medicines, if needed.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Latest News
- 17 Million U.S. Adults May Have Tough-to-Spot High Blood Pressure (01/19/2017, HealthDay)
- Hispanics, Blacks Less Likely to Get High Blood Pressure Treatment: Study (01/17/2017, HealthDay)
- Medical Groups Raise Blood Pressure Rx Threshold for Healthy Adults Over 60 (01/16/2017, HealthDay)
- More News on High Blood Pressure
Symptoms
-
What Are the Signs, Symptoms, and Complications of High Blood Pressure?
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish
Diagnosis and Tests
- Blood Pressure Test (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
Diagnosis of High Blood Pressure
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Prevention and Risk Factors
- Preventing High Blood Pressure (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
-
Prevention of High Blood Pressure
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
-
Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Treatments and Therapies
-
Blood Pressure Medicines: MedlinePlus Health Topic
(National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
-
How Is High Blood Pressure Treated?
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish
- Treating High Blood Pressure (National Center for Farmworker Health, Consumers Union of U.S.) - PDF Also in Spanish
Living With
- 10 Ways to Control High Blood Pressure without Medication (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
DASH Diet: MedlinePlus Health Topic
(National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
- Exercise: A Drug-Free Approach to Lowering High Blood Pressure (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Get the Most Out of Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
Living with High Blood Pressure
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
- Potassium and High Blood Pressure (American Heart Association)
- Shaking the Salt Habit (American Heart Association)
- Understanding Blood Pressure Readings (American Heart Association)
Related Issues
- Anxiety: A Cause of High Blood Pressure? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
Avoid the Consequences of High Blood Pressure
(American Heart Association)
- Blood Pressure vs. Heart Rate (American Heart Association)
- Blood Pressure: Does It Have a Daily Pattern? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Blood Pressure: Is It Affected by Cold Weather? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
For People with Diabetes or High Blood Pressure: Get Checked for Kidney Disease
(National Kidney Disease Education Program) Also in Spanish
- Heart and Artery Damage and High Blood Pressure (American Heart Association)
- High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- High Blood Pressure and Cold Remedies: Which Are Safe? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
High Blood Pressure and Kidney Disease
(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
- High Blood Pressure and Sex: Overcome the Challenges (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- High Blood Pressure Dangers: Hypertension's Effects on Your Body (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- High Blood Pressure, Afib and Your Risk of Stroke (American Heart Association)
- Myths about High Blood Pressure (American Heart Association)
- Prehypertension (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Processed Foods: Where Is All That Salt Coming from? (American Heart Association)
- Pulse Pressure: An Indicator of Heart Health? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Stroke and High Blood Pressure (American Heart Association)
- Weightlifting: Bad for Your Blood Pressure? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
-
What Causes High Blood Pressure?
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish
- White-Coat Hypertension: When Blood Pressure Rises at the Doctor's Office (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Wrist Blood Pressure Monitors: Are They Accurate? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Specifics
- Hypertensive Crisis (American Heart Association)
- Isolated Systolic Hypertension: A Health Concern? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Secondary Hypertension (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Genetics
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Genes That Influence Blood Pressure
(National Institutes of Health)
-
Genetics Home Reference: familial hyperaldosteronism
(National Library of Medicine)
-
Genetics Home Reference: fibronectin glomerulopathy
(National Library of Medicine)
-
Genetics Home Reference: pseudohypoaldosteronism type 2
(National Library of Medicine)
Health Check Tools
- Can You Escape the Silent Killer? (American Heart Association)
- Test Your Blood Pressure IQ (American Heart Association)
Videos and Tutorials
-
Blood pressure
(Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
-
Hypertension - overview
(Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Statistics and Research
- CDC Vital Signs: High Blood Pressure and Cholesterol (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Consistent Blood Pressure Control May Cut Rate of Second Stroke in Half (American Heart Association)
- High Blood Pressure Fact Sheet (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- High Blood Pressure Facts (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
-
Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) - PDF
- Leisure-Time Exercise Could Lower Your Risk of High Blood Pressure (American Heart Association)
-
Snapshot: Blood Pressure in the U.S.
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Clinical Trials
-
ClinicalTrials.gov: Hypertension
(National Institutes of Health)
-
ClinicalTrials.gov: Prehypertension
(National Institutes of Health)
Journal ArticlesReferences and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Assessing Optimal Blood Pressure in Patients With Asymptomatic Aortic Valve...
- Article: Intensive Blood-Pressure Lowering in Patients with Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage.
- Article: Controversies and problems of volume control and hypertension in haemodialysis.
- High Blood Pressure -- see more articles
Reference Desk
- Heart and Stroke Encyclopedia (American Heart Association)
Children
- High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
-
High Blood Pressure and Children: What Parents Need to Know
(National Kidney Disease Education Program) Also in Spanish
- High Blood Pressure Treatment in Children (Beyond the Basics) (UpToDate)
- Screening for Primary Hypertension in Children and Adolescents (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force) - PDF
Teenagers
- Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) (Nemours Foundation)
Women
- High Blood Pressure and Women (American Heart Association)
- Menopause and High Blood Pressure: What's the Connection? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Seniors
-
High Blood Pressure
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
-
High Blood Pressure
(National Institute on Aging) Also in Spanish
- High Blood Pressure: Unique to Older Adults (AGS Foundation for Health in Aging)
Patient Handouts
- ACE inhibitors (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Blood pressure measurement (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Blood pressure monitors for home (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Controlling your high blood pressure (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Drug-induced hypertension (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- High blood pressure (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- High blood pressure and eye disease (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- High blood pressure medications (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Hypertensive heart disease (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Low-salt diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Malignant hypertension (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Renovascular hypertension (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish