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Complications Or Diseases Caused By High Blood Pressure |
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Three factors play a major role in determining blood pressure in human beings. They include the force developed by the heart muscle, the internal area of cross-section of major blood vessels, and the amount of excretory products present in the blood.
Anabolic processes decline gradually, either with age in almost all people, or due to other diseases such as obesity or diabetes in some young people, or due to genetic predisposition. As a result of this all the aforesaid three factors combine differently in different individuals to cause high blood pressure. The resilience of the heart muscle as well as that of arteries and veins decreases as a result of it.
In some individuals kidney function declines after a certain age and due to this excretory products in the blood do not get filtered out with as much efficiency as earlier. This imposes extra load on the heart.
Once high blood pressure develops, it increases the load on the heart muscle and stretches the blood vessels and gradually damages their outer layer. It also causes extra load on the kidneys which gradually become weak and then cannot efficiently discharge the function of filtering out the excretory products in the blood. So, it becomes a vicious cycle that complicates the matters.
So, all in all three types of complications or diseases can arise from high blood pressure.
First is heart attack or heart failure that results from a weakened heart muscle.
The second is coronary artery disease that blocks arterial blood flow and results from inflammation of weakened arteries because of deposition of cholesterol in them.
The third is kidney disease that results from hypertension induced weakened kidneys.
In some people, the clogging of or weakening and consequent rupture of the artery supplying blood to the brain can cause a stroke. In some people, the formation of blood clots in arteries due to hypertension can cause a disease known as atrial fibrillation. It affects the blood flow within the heart itself. In some others the hypertension induced general weakening of major arteries can cause their rupture in the abdomen or stomach (aneurysm).
In some women, pregnancy induced hypertension (preeclampsia) can cause complications. It can lead to kidney disease or a brain related disease resulting in a seizure in a pregnant woman. The good thing about preeclampsia is that it ends after childbirth. That is why it is sometimes known as gestational hypertension.
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