REDUCING YOUR RISK OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE: HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
High blood pressure is called the “silent killer.” You can have it and not know it, because it seldom causes symptoms to warn you that there is a problem. However, it is the most common cardiovascular disease, affecting about one of every four Americans. Fifty-four percent of people older than 60 have high blood pressure. By age 70, 64 percent of all Americans have high blood pressure. High blood pressure is not a condition to take lightly, because it can damage components of the circulatory system, including blood vessels of the heart, the brain, the eyes, and the kidneys. The higher the pressure or the longer it goes undiagnosed or uncontrolled, the worse the outlook.The medical term for high blood pressure is hypertension (hyper means “high,” tension refers to the pressure inside your arteries). Hypertension killed almost 33,000 Americans in 1990 (the latest figure available) and this number does not include deaths from heart attacks and strokes caused by hypertension. The good news is that improved detection and treatment of high blood pressure have contributed to a dramatic reduction in strokes and heart attacks during the past 20 years.*252\252\8*
