1. High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) Slideshow
2. Take the Salt Quiz!
3. Lowering Blood Pressure Exercise Tips Pictures

Medical Author:

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, is a U.S. board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician. Dr. Cunha's educational background includes a BS in Biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a DO from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City, MO. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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Medical Editor:

Jay W. Marks, MD

Jay W. Marks, MD

Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

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In this Article

• High blood pressure facts
• What is high blood pressure?
• How is the blood pressure measured?
• How is blood pressure defined?
• What are the signs and symptoms of high blood pressure?
• What are the different types of high blood pressure?
• Isolated systolic high blood pressure
• White coat high blood pressure
• Borderline high blood pressure
• What causes high blood pressure?
• The metabolic syndrome and obesity
• What are the causes of secondary high blood pressure?
• Renal (kidney) hypertension
• Adrenal gland tumors
• Coarctation of the aorta
• What is the treatment for high blood pressure?
• High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) - Slideshow
• Take the HBP Quiz
• Lowering Blood Pressure Exercise Tips - Slideshow
• Salt FAQs
• Patient Comments: High Blood Pressure - Effective Treatments
• Patient Comments: High Blood Pressure - Numbers
• Patient Comments: High Blood Pressure - Symptoms
• Find a local Internist in your town
• High Blood Pressure Index

Uncomplicated high blood pressure usually occurs without any symptoms (silently) and so hypertension has been labeled "the silent killer." It is called this because the disease can progress to finally develop any one or more of the several potentially fatal complications such as heart attacks or strokes. Uncomplicated hypertension may be present and remain unnoticed for many years, or even decades. This happens because there are no symptoms, and those affected fail to undergo periodic blood pressure screening.

Some people with uncomplicated hypertension, however, may experience symptoms such as headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, and blurred vision usually with blood pressure that is very high. The presence of symptoms can be a good thing in that they can prompt people to consult a doctor for treatment and make them more compliant in taking their medications. Often, however, a person's first contact with a physician may be after significant damage to the body has occurred. In many cases, a person visits or is brought to the doctor or an emergency department with a heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, or impaired vision (due to damage to the back part of the retina). Greater public awareness and frequent blood pressure screening may help to identify patients with undiagnosed high blood pressure before significant complications have developed.

About one out of every 100 (1%) people with hypertension is diagnosed with severe high blood pressure (accelerated or malignant hypertension) at their first visit to the doctor. In these patients, the diastolic blood pressure (see the following section) exceeds 140 mm Hg! Affected persons often experience severe headache, nausea, visual symptoms, dizziness, and sometimes kidney failure. Malignant hypertension is a medical emergency and requires urgent treatment to prevent a stroke (brain damage).