É curioso como um tema tão falado ainda não está bem explicado à população.
Cá vai um resumo do que devem saber sobre Hipertensão Arterial.
Se não tiverem paciência para mais, vejam o bold[
] (desculpem estar em inglês):
INTRODUCTION — Hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure. Blood pressure refers to the pressure that blood applies to the inner walls of the arteries. Arteries carry blood from the heart to other organs and parts of the body.
WHAT IS BLOOD PRESSURE? — An individual's blood pressure is defined by two measurements:
- Systolic pressure is the pressure in the arteries produced when the heart contracts (at the time of a heart beat)
- Diastolic pressure refers the pressure in the arteries during relaxation of the heart between heart beats.
Blood pressure is reported as the systolic pressure over diastolic pressure (eg, 120/70 or 120 over 70).
Untreated hypertension increases the strain on the heart and arteries, eventually causing organ damage. Hypertension increases the risk of heart failure, heart attack (myocardial infarction), and stroke.
DEFINITION —
A person is considered to have high blood pressure after three to six elevated blood pressure measurements over several months. These definitions apply to adults who are healthy and not using medication for high blood pressure. If the two pressures fall in different categories, the higher one is used to determine the severity of the hypertension.
Normal blood pressure — Systolic <120 mmHg AND diastolic <80 mmHg
Prehypertension — Systolic 120 to 139 mmHg OR diastolic 80 to 89 mmHg
The term prehypertension was chosen because patients with blood pressures in this range are at increased risk of progressing to hypertension and developing cardiovascular complications.
Hypertension
Stage 1: systolic 140 to 159 mmHg OR diastolic 90 to 99 mmHg
Stage 2: systolic ≥160 mmHg OR diastolic ≥100 mmHg
Most adults with hypertension have essential or primary hypertension, which means that the cause of the high blood pressure is not known. A small subset of adults have secondary hypertension, which means that there is an underlying and potentially correctable cause.
RISK FACTORS — Hypertension is a common health problem. In the United States, approximately 32 percent of African-Americans and 23 percent of white people and Mexican-Americans have hypertension.
Hypertension is more common as people grow older. As an example, among people over age 60, hypertension occurs in 65 percent of African-American men, 80 percent of African-American women, 55 percent of white men, and 65 percent of white women.
DIAGNOSIS —
An individual's blood pressure varies with time and many people are anxious when seeing a healthcare provider. As a result, hypertension is not diagnosed unless the blood pressure is persistently high when measured at two office visits at least one week apart.
The only exceptions to this are if the blood pressure is very high or if there is evidence of damage from persistently elevated blood pressure, such as heart, eye, or kidney injury. Before a decision is made to begin treatment, a person is also encouraged to measure the blood pressure at home or work.
(Fonte: uptodate.com)
] 
]
]
