How is hypertension classified

Younger people can also develop isolated systolic hypertension. A study noted that isolated systolic hypertension appears in 2 percent to 8 percent of younger people. A large study published in with an average of 31 years follow-up found that younger and middle-aged people with isolated systolic hypertension were at a higher risk of stroke and heart attack compared with those with normal blood pressures. These include:. This is a life threatening condition, because high blood pressure can damage essential organs or cause complications such as an aortic dissection or tear or bleeding in the brain.

Only 1 to 3 percent of people with hypertension are likely to have a hypertensive emergency during their lifetime. Be sure to take your prescribed blood pressure medications avoid drugs that stimulate your nervous system, as these are common causes of hypertensive emergency. Hypertensive urgency is most often treated by adjusting your medications. Previously, this condition was found to be benign. Often, people with white coat hypertension will progress to having a diagnosis of hypertension.

Your doctor can do this in the office or you can do it at home with a blood pressure monitoring kit. Consider making lifestyle changes to prevent hypertension or to keep your hypertension in check. In particular, exercise can be very effective in lowering your blood pressure. Depending on your risk factors and your hypertension level, your doctor may recommend one or more prescription drugs to decrease your blood pressure.

Medication is always in addition to lifestyle changes. There are several types of blood pressure lowering medications. They work on different principles. Discuss with your doctor what drugs might be best for you. It may take a while to find the right combination. Every individual is different. If your hypertension is linked to another condition, your doctor will treat the underlying condition first.

Secondary hypertension is usually suspected in people under the age of 30 years who have high blood pressure. It may take time for you and your doctor to work out a successful lifestyle and medication plan to lower your blood pressure.

It may be inherited or related to diet and sedentary lifestyle. Also, blood pressure normally tends to increase as you age. Often, lifestyle changes can greatly improve your chances of avoiding hypertension medications and complications, including heart attack or stroke. High blood pressure is often associated with few or no symptoms. Many people have it for years without knowing it.

Learn more. But what does that mean? To identify individuals at risk for CVD at an earlier point in the disease process, as well as to avoid labeling persons as hypertensive who are at low risk for CVD, the Hypertension Writing Group proposes incorporating the presence or absence of cardiovascular risk factors, early disease markers, and target organ damage into the definition and classification scheme of hypertension. To describe both the complexity and progressive nature of hypertension, the following definition is proposed: "Hypertension is a progressive cardiovascular syndrome arising from complex and interrelated etiologies.

Early markers of the syndrome are often present before blood pressure elevation is observed; therefore, hypertension cannot be classified solely by discrete blood pressure thresholds. Progression is strongly associated with functional and structural cardiac and vascular abnormalities that damage the heart, kidneys, brain, vasculature, and other organs and lead to premature morbidity and death.

However, only a small increase is expected in the number of adults requiring antihypertensive medication. It doesn't mean you need medication, but it's a yellow light that you need to be lowering your blood pressure, mainly with non-drug approaches. The guidelines eliminate the category of prehypertension, categorizing patients as having either Elevated and less than 80 or Stage I hypertension or In addition, the guidelines stress the importance of using proper technique to measure blood pressure; recommend use of home blood pressure monitoring using validated devices; and highlight the value of appropriate training of health care providers to reveal "white-coat hypertension.