Predisposing Factors for High Blood Pressure - Essay Example

High Blood Pressure Introduction: The normal pressure of blood is taken as120/80mm Hg, where 120 mm Hg is the systolic blood pressure or the pressure of the blood at the time of blood being pumped into the blood vessels and 80 mm Hg as the diastolic pressure or the pressure of the blood at other times. Any elevation of these levels of the systolic and diastolic blood pressure is termed as hypertension or high blood pressure. Persistent high blood has severe consequences, as it can lead to vascular damage to the heart, brain, kidneys and the limbs. In the United States of America nearly fifty million people suffer from blood pressure and as age has a role to play in the development of blood pressure, the increased life spans of the people are bound to increase the incidence of blood pressure in the United States of America (Kannel, 2004). Predisposing Factors for High Blood Pressure: There are a number of predisposing factors that play a role in the development of high blood pressure. These factors vary from what we eat to how we live and the genetic factors that we were born with. We still do not know what causes high blood pressure and so a number of factors have been associated with this complex disorder called high blood pressure (Thiel & Weder, 2000). Lifestyle Factors: What we eat and drink and how much we consume has a lot to do with the development of blood pressure. Excess weight in an individual is known to predispose the individual towards the development of high blood pressure. Hence consumption of food should be based on the requirements of body and not far in excess of it. High salt intake, food stuffs rich in cholesterol, and excess consumption of alcohol adds to the likelihood of development of high blood pressure. Equally important is ensuring that the diet is balanced. Studies have shown that an important factor in the development of high blood pressure is an unbalanced diet, for nutritional deficiencies are likely to cause high blood pressure. Endothelial cells are known to produce substances that cause vasodilation and vasoconstriction. Factors involved in the diet of an individual like sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, vitamins A, C, and E, essential fatty acids and their products like eicosanoids have an influence on blood pressure. It is believed that there is a close interaction between these dietary factors and the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system, the metabolism of fatty acids, nitric oxide, prostacyclin, and the functioning of the endothelium of the development of hypertension. A deficiency of any of these dietary factors has the potential of leading to endothelial dysfunction and the development of hypertension (Das, 2001). Lifestyle factors like have a significant role to play in the development of high blood pressure, for it is the life style factors that are the main contribution to the environmental factors involved in the development of high blood pressure. Studies show that poor life styles that involve obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, excessive dietary sodium coupled with deficient potassium intake, stress and anxiety are environmental predisposing risk factors for the development of high blood pressure (Kaplan, 2005). Cultural Factors: There is the factor of culture that an individual belongs to impacting on the possible development of high blood pressure in the individual. Culture is a way of life and life style behaviours and eating habits are essentially governed by the culture that an individual belongs. Health behaviours are passed down from generation to generation within a culture and where the culture leads to poor health behaviours and poor life styles, then culture influences the development of high blood pressure within the individuals belonging to that culture (Peters, Aroian & Flack, 2006). Genetic Factors: Considerable evidence has emerged from studies of twins and family groups that support the hypothesis that predisposition to high blood pressure have a genetic perspective. The variable factor however, lies in the extent to which heritability is important in the development of high blood pressure. Some studies have shown these to be as low as 15%-20% in some population to as high as sixty-five to seventy percent in other populations. A plausible explanation of this lies in the different susceptibility rates of different races to high blood pressure, which may be reflected in the results of the studies that evaluated the role of genes among different races like Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. The specific genes responsible for the heritability of high blood pressure have yet to be identified. There is however, general agreement that hypertension may be caused due to the cumulative burden of many genes, with each of these genes exerting a small effect towards the development of high blood pressure. Thus the predisposing factors towards the development of high blood pressure, like many other disorders and diseases, reflects a combination of environmental factors coupled with genetic factors (Thiel & Weder, 2000). Treatment of High Blood Pressure: Pharmacological Interventions: The primary target in the treatment of high blood pressure is to bring back the elevated levels of high blood pressure to as near normal levels possible. Trying about this objective the use of pharmacological agents becomes necessary and there are a wide range of therapeutic agents available. The general rule followed is to start with diuretics, but with high blood pressure developing from several causes a diuretic may not prove successful in lowering high blood pressure, and it quite often becomes necessary to make use of other pharmacological agents alone or in combination with a diuretic. The drugs that may be used include beta-blockers, Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), and calcium channel blockers (CCBs). Many combination therapeutics are also used like beta-blockers/diuretics, ACE inhibitors/diuretics, ARBs/diuretics, ACE inhibitors/diuretics, and ACE inhibitors/CCBs (Moser, Cushman, Oparil & Glasser, 2001). Targeting the Life Style Factors: Life style factors play a large role in the development and persistence of high blood pressure. Thus targeting the life style factors is an important feature in the treatment of high blood pressure. Modification of life style patterns is essential for the prevention of the development of overt hypertension in people with high-normal blood pressure, may contribute to the reduction for the need of the use of drugs for controlling blood pressure, and the of medications employed in individuals with established high blood pressure. The major steps in modifying the life style factors include maintaining a normal body weight in adults with body mass index between 20-25 kg/sq m, reducing salt consumption to less than 100 mol/day, limiting alcohol consumption to three units per day for men and two units per day for women, cessation of smoking, regular aerobic exercise like brisk walking for thirty minutes preferably every day, intake of a minimum of five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables everyday, reduced consumption of total and saturated fats (Williams & Poulter, 2004). Education Programs; Awareness is the best means to reduce the impact of a disorder or health problem that is a concern for public health. Obesity is a high risk factor for many disorders including hypertension. National awareness programs like the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) has the objective of educating the populace on good dietary habits that reduce the impact of poor nutritional intake acting as a factor on the development of high blood pressure (Daskalapoulou, Mikhailidis & Elisaf, 2004). Catch them while they are young is an old saying and that is precisely the aim of the Wise Mind Project. The Wise Mind Project targets sixth grade school children with the aim of inculcating health eating and physical activity behaviours to prevent the development of disorders like hypertension in later life. Such prevention programs at school levels offer the means to prevent the development of hypertension or delay the onset of hypertension (Williamson, et al, 2007). Works Cited Daskalapoulou, S. S., Mikhailidis, D. P. & Elisaf, M. (2004). Prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome. Angiology, 55(6), 589-612. Das, N.U. (2001). Nutritional Factors in the Pathobiology of Human Essential Hypertension. Nutrition, 17, 337-346. Kannel, B. W. (2004). Hypertensive Risk Assessment: Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Hypertension. The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 6(7), 393-399. Kaplan, M. N. (2005). Life Style Modifications for Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension. The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 6(12): 716-719. Moser, M., Cushman, W., Oparil, S. & Glasser, S. (2001). Treating Hypertension in the Elderly -- Whom to Treat, When, and With What? The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 3(2), 103-109. Peters, R.M., Aroian, K.J. & Flack, J. M. (2006). African American culture and hypertension prevention. Western journal of nursing research, 28(7), 831-863. Thiel, B & Weder, B. A. (2000). Genes for Essential Hypertension: Hype, Help, or Hope? The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 2(3): 187-193. Williams, B. & Poulter, N. (2004). Whats New in the New British Hypertension Society Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension -- BHS IV? British Journal of Cardiology, 11(2), 112-117. Williamson, D.A., Copeland, A.L., Anton, S. D., Champagne, C., Han, H., Lewis, L., Martin, C., Newton, R. L., Sothern, M., Stewart, T. & Ryan, D. (2007). Wise Mind project: a school-based environmental approach for preventing weight gain in children. Obesity, 15(4), 906-917. Read More