Hypertension, as a common chronic disease, not only has a long treatment cycle, but also has a high lethal dose once complications occur. Hypertension is not scary, what is scary is the disability rate caused by a series of complications due to improper control of hypertension. So it is very necessary to fully understand the causes of hypertension and achieve early prevention.
What causes hypertension
1. Genetic factors: Approximately 60% of hypertensive patients have a family history. Currently, it is believed to be caused by polygenic inheritance, with 30% to 50% of hypertensive patients having a genetic background.
2. Psychological and environmental factors: Long term mental tension, excitement, anxiety, exposure to noise or adverse visual stimuli can also cause the occurrence of hypertension.
3. Age factor: the incidence rate tends to increase with age, and the incidence rate is high for people over 40 years old.
4. Lifestyle factors: Unreasonable dietary structure, such as excessive sodium intake, low potassium diet, heavy alcohol consumption, and excessive intake of saturated fatty acids, can all lead to elevated blood pressure. Smoking can accelerate the process of atherosclerosis and is a risk factor for hypertension.
5. The effects of medication: Contraceptive pills, hormones, anti-inflammatory drugs, etc. can all affect blood pressure.
6. Impact of other diseases: obesity, diabetes, sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome, thyroid disease, renal artery stenosis, renal parenchymal damage, adrenal space occupying lesions, pheochromocytoma, other neuroendocrine tumors, etc.
How to prevent hypertension
1. Hypertension is a preventable and controllable disease. Key interventions should be given to individuals with normal high blood pressure levels of 130-139/85-89mmHg, overweight/obesity, long-term high salt diets, and excessive alcohol consumption. Regular health check ups should be conducted to actively control risk factors.
2. For patients with hypertension, regular follow-up and blood pressure measurement should be carried out, especially attention should be paid to the management of morning blood pressure, actively treating hypertension (combining drug therapy and lifestyle intervention), slowing down target organ damage, preventing the occurrence of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and renal complications, and reducing disability and mortality rates.
So far, hypertension still requires lifelong medication for long-term control. There are many causes of hypertension. In addition to some uncontrollable genetic factors, paying attention to one's diet and lifestyle habits can effectively prevent the occurrence of hypertension. Understanding the condition of hypertension can also enable early detection and treatment.
