The number of American adults with high
High Blood Pressure
blood pressure has climbed to almost one in three over the past decade, putting more people at risk of a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure, government researchers said on Monday.
A little more than a decade ago, the number was closer to one in four.
”It’s not surprising because we’ve seen that Americans are getting fatter, and we know that blood pressure goes up when people gain weight,” said Dr. David Goff, an epidemiology expert at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the analysis, of Census Bureau and health statistics.
About 65 million American adults have high blood pressure — 30 percent more than the 50 million who did in the previous decade, according to the report in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The report did not specifically examine reasons for the spike, but experts said the aging American population and the growing proportion of overweight and obese Americans were probably major contributors.
The risk of hypertension, or high blood pressure, increases with age, excess weight and lack of physical activity. High blood pressure is defined as 140 over 90 or higher. Blood pressure less than 120 over 80 is generally considered ideal. People in between these categories are called prehypertensive.
The study found that Americans either have blood pressure in the high range, take blood-pressure-lowering medicines or have been told at least twice that they had high blood pressure.
High blood pressure adds to the workload of the heart and arteries. Over time it can mean the heart and arteries do not work as well as they should.
High blood pressure can be treated with medicine and changes in habits, including eating less fat and more fruits and vegetables, becoming more physically active and limiting salt intake.
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