Question

Start a new thread. Identify a disease of your choice. Provide a brief overview of the disease (who it affects, the seriousness of the disease, cost to society, a cause of the disease), classification of the disease, means of spreading (use the chain of infection model if appropriate), means of prevention, and a prediction for eradicating the disease.

Reply to at least one other post. You may ask follow-up questions, provide additional information that you may be aware of, or you can comment on what you learned from this post.

Answer 1

Hypertension or high blood pressure, is defined as a persistent Systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mm Hg, and Diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg.

Mostly affect males age below 55 years. After age of 65 females are at higher risk

If hypertension is not control it can lead hypertensive crisis. The two hypertensive crisis can occur in an individual suffering from uncontrolled hypertension these are hypertensive emergency and hypertensive urgency. Complication like left ventricular hypertrophy, coronary artery disease, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, nephrosclerosis and retinal damage can occur in patients suffering from long term hypertension.

Catagory	Systolic Blood Pressure	Diastolic Blood Pressure
Normal	> 120	<80
Pre- hypertension	120-139	80-89
Hypertension - Stage 1	140-159	90-99
Hypertension - Stage 2	>160	>100

Types of hypertension

• Isolated systolic hypertension - It is defined as an average SBP≥140mmHg coupled with an average DBP<90mmHg.
• Peudohypertension - It can occur with advanced arteriosclerosis.
• Malignant hypertension - Malignant hypertension is blood pressure that is so high that it is actually causing damage to organs, particularly in the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, and/or the kidneys.

Prevention of hypertension-

• Periodic BP monitoring
• Nutritional therapy - Dietary sodium reduction 100mmol/day, reduce weight, restrict cholesterol & saturated fats, maintain the intake of potassium, calcium & magnesium, Adopt DASH diet
• Lifestyle modifications - Regular, moderate physical activity – aerobics, brisk walk at least 30 min/day, Cessation of smoking, Moderation of alcohol consumption – Not more than 2 drinks per day (10 oz wine or 24 oz beer or 3 oz whiskey) and Stress management
• Antihypertensive drugs