6 hidden dangers of high blood pressure;

By Stacey Colino
:: //-->MediZine's Healthy Living Winter 2008
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, isn’t only a silent killer, it’s also frequently misunderstood and underestimated. “I often refer to it as the Rodney Dangerfield of risk factors—it gets no respect,” says Daniel Jones, M.D., past president of the American Heart Association and dean of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson. Understanding the RisksUnfortunately, patients who have high blood pressure are at an increased risk for the following six serious health conditions, especially if they fail to take full control of the disease.1. Heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, high blood pressure directly increases the risk of coronary heart disease, which often leads to heart attack, especially when it’s present with additional risk factors. 2. Stroke. The National Institutes of Health reports that high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of stroke because it puts unnecessary stress on the blood vessel walls, causing them to thicken and deteriorate. 3. Chronic kidney disease. Since high blood pressure makes the heart work harder, it can damage blood vessels throughout the body over time, the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse reports. If the blood vessels in the kidneys are damaged, they may stop removing wastes and extra fluid from the body, which can lead to kidney failure.4. Peripheral vascular disease. Any condition that causes the walls of the arteries to weaken, including high blood pressure, can put a patient at increased risk for peripheral vascular disease, experts say.5. Vision changes. According to experts, hypertension can result in blurred or impaired vision; in severe cases, it may even lead to blindness.6. Impaired brain function. Research also suggests that hypertension can take a toll on brain function over time. A study at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City found that people with hypertension have a 40 percent higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment as they age. And research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore found that hypertension is associated with a more rapid rate of mental decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease.Increasing AwarenessSo why is high blood pressure, which affects some 73 million adults in this country, so often dismissed? For one thing, many people simply don’t know what it is. (Here’s a quick definition: Blood pressure is a measure of the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls as the heart pumps out blood. In someone with hypertension, that force is stronger than it should be.)Another factor, Dr. Jones says, is “the typically long time from the onset of high blood pressure to the consequences of the problem—that is, a heart attack or stroke.” Plus, it’s so common that people tend to ignore it.In addition, patients and doctors may be at odds with each other. Researchers at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond concluded that those with high blood pressure often don’t share their health-care providers’ views on such issues as their symptoms and the need for lifelong medication, which can compromise the health professionals' ability to control the condition.Patient compliance isn’t the only obstacle to adequate treatment: Doctors aren’t always as aggressive as they should be when it comes to hypertension. “Often, there’s physician inertia—doctors don’t always add medications or increase dosage appropriately,” says Domenic Sica, M.D., chair of clinical pharmacology and hypertension at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. “Physicians increasingly recognize that two medications are usually required to treat hypertension, but they fail to appreciate that three drugs are often necessary to fully control it.”Taking Control The bottom line: Get your blood pressure checked regularly, and if you have high blood pressure, follow your doctor’s treatment plan closely. Plus, be open to the possibility that you’ll need more than one medication. In general, lower doses of multiple medications is more effective than a higher dose of just one, Dr. Sica says: “You get the most bang for the buck with the fewest side effects.”
Step It Up!It’s no secret that excess weight raises blood pressure. “Being overweight is the most common risk factor for hypertension in most industrialized countries,” says the University of Mississippi in Oxford’s Daniel Jones, M.D. The double whammy: If you’re overweight, high blood pressure tends to be tougher to control. But losing extra weight and getting physical activity can help. For example, regularly wearing a pedometer and setting a daily goal for a certain number of steps—10,000 is widely recommended—is linked to significant declines in blood pressure and body mass index (BMI), according to a recent review of studies by researchers at Stanford University. Also helpful: reducing salt, limiting alcohol and eating more produce and low-fat dairy.
Omega-3sPeople whose diets contain a lot of omega-3 fatty acids—from fish, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils—tend to have lower blood pressure. So says a recent report from Chicago's Northwestern University.