Contents

HYPERTENSION IN AMERICAN. ................................................................................................................ 3

1 INTRODUCTION: ............................................................................................................................................ 4

1.1 WHAT IS IT? .........................................................................................................................................................4

1.2 HEALTH PATTERN: ...............................................................................................................................................4
1.3 POPULATION (THE DEATH RATE): .........................................................................................................................4

2. CULTURAL FACTORS: ................................................................................................................................. 5

2.1..............................................................................................................................................................................5
2.2 HISTORICAL EXPERIENCES: ..................................................................................................................................6
2.3 HEALTH BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES: .......................................................................................................................6
2.4 BEHAVIORS OF AMERICANS: ................................................................................................................................6
2.5 PSYCHOLOGICAL: .................................................................................................................................................6
2.6 GENDER: ..............................................................................................................................................................6
2.7 FAMILY: ...............................................................................................................................................................7
2.8 COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: ...........................................................................................................................................7

3 SOCIAL FACTORS: ......................................................................................................................................... 7

3.1 EDUCATION: .........................................................................................................................................................7

3.2 INCOME AND OCCUPATION: .................................................................................................................................7
3.3 ETHNICITY AND RACE: .........................................................................................................................................7
3.4 RELIGION: ............................................................................................................................................................8
3.5 GEOGRAPHIC REGION: ..........................................................................................................................................8

4 PERSONAL VIEWS: ........................................................................................................................................ 8

5. REFERENCES: ................................................................................................................................................ 8

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List of Tables and Graphs

Table 1.3
Graph 14

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3
 Hypertension in American.

1 Introduction:
1.1 What is it?
Hypertension is known as the Blood Pressure or circulatory strain. Circulatory strain is force
applied by the blood against the dividers of veins, and the extent of this constrain relies upon
the heart yield and the resistance of the veins against blood.

Hypertension calculates cardiovascular infection. As you know, cardiovascular sickness is

the main source of death among Americans, still the commonness of hypertension, its
control, and its relationship with other cardiovascular problem and physiological factors have
not been concentrated and studied.

1.2 Health Pattern:

Hypertension expanded in last couple of years. In the ideal situation the systolic heartbeat
should be <140 mm hg and the diastolic heartbeat should be under 90 mm HG. In grown-ups the
hypertension lessened because of intake of hypertension medicines. In this way, if there should
arise an occurrence of medicine intake, hypertension rate is going to be diminished in grown-ups.
Ladies are about as likely as men to grow hypertension. Nonetheless, for individuals who are
younger than 45 years of age, the condition influences a larger number of men than ladies. For
individuals 65 years of age or more, hypertension influences a larger number of ladies than men.

Age Men (%age) Women(%age)

20-34 11.1 6.8
35-44 25.1 19.0
45-54 37.1 35.2
55-64 54.0 53.3
65-74 64.0 69.3
75+ 66.7 78.5
TABLE 1: BLOOD PRESSURE RELATIVE TO AGE.

1.3 Population (the death rate):

As seen, the number of people suffering from hypertension is staggering. High blood pressure is
a silent killer and is therefore one of the most significant of the medically related problems that
afflicts modern man. According to reports, nearly 25 million people of the United States suffer
from hypertension. The shocking thing is that hypertension causes more deaths in the US than
cancer. This is because hypertension leads to other deathly diseases such as strokes, cardiac

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arrests, kidney failures to start with. Despite these factors being known, hypertension still
invokes hesitation in people because most people believe a person having hypertension is usually
one who is always tensed or nervous. While this may be true, but it is true to a very tiny degree,
and there are numerous other factors. Moreover, hypertension is an actual disease. Due to this
ignorance, nearly fifty percent of the people who suffer from arent even aware of the problem
they are suffering from. And those who know, half of them dont get any treatment for it. This
forms a pool of people who are untreated and unaware, and their life expectancy is shocking, just
under twenty years. Around 12.5% of the people having hypertension have their problem under
control. The rest, are in danger. There are basically two kinds of hypertensions; one is called
essential and the other secondary. Secondary ones are easily correctible, while essential
hypertension isnt most of the time, and the sad thing is that 90% of the American hypertensive
are classified as essential. This means that an enormous twenty two million people having
hypertension in the US do not have any known, documented reason for suffering from such a
condition.
Cardiovascular problem is still the greatest killer in the U.S. Concerns are developing,
nonetheless, that over a 13 percent uptick in hypertension-related deaths has occurred in last few
years. This percentage has increased to 41%. Refer to the following graph in order to have a brief
overview.

2,500

2,000

1,500
Series1

1,000 Series2

500

0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

GRAPH 1: DEATH RATE DUE TO HYPERTENSION OVER PAST FEW YEARS

2. Cultural Factors:
2.1 Culture:

Cultural factor is a broad term to be precise. There are many things that can be included in the
cultural causes of hypertension. Some of the well known facts are that Afro Americans are more
likely to have hypertension white Americans. Younger men and older women are more prone to
hypertension, as compared to younger women and older men. Those that have low incomes and

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lower social statuses suffer from it more than others. Geographically speaking, smaller towns or
rural areas of the US have more prevalence of hypertension than the central US areas.

2.2 Historical experiences:

History is one of the major things explainable in hypertension. Those with a history of abuse,
whether mental, sexual or emotional, have higher chances of hypertension, than others. This is
understandable since the brain is taking on more than it can manage, such as overthinking, fear,
shame, sadness, guilt etc., and hence the heart has to work much harder to pump blood to keep
the brain going, hence resulting in hypertension.

2.3 Health beliefs and attitudes:

Health beliefs are largely similar throughout the US, the US being largely secular at the moment.
People have faith in the medical infrastructure largely, but there are certain ethnicities or
religious people, who are either overly cautious of going to a doctor, or believe it the work of
higher deity for any such problems. Such a behavior may lead to other mental issues, leading to
hypertension, and without the involvement of professional help things get out of hand. Moreover,
some people are flippant about clean eating and physical activity, both of which are important to
keep hypertension under control.

2.4 Behaviors of Americans:

There are so many behavioral problems that lead to hypertension in Americans. Racism, bigotry,
bullying, aggressiveness etc are the major causes if hypertension in the general population, both
for the victim and the perpetrator. As mentioned people with a history of abuse are likely
suffering from hypertension, moreover, the doers/abusers/ bigots/bullies also suffer due to
underlying shame, guilt of unexplained fear.

2.5 Psychological:

Sometimes all explanations go out of the window, when it comes to the individual psyche of a
person. People have different thought processes; different levels of possible stress, and these
combined with their lifestyle may lead to hypertension. Certain psychological issues such as self-
esteem, aggression, hostility, and anxiety are known to be major factors of hypertension.

2.6 Gender:

Women are more prone to hypertension than men. This is attributed to being emotionally deeper
and more prone to sensitivity than men, but it is a very vague assumption by most experts.
However, age is seen to be disparaging factor, since men in the 18-30 demographic are more

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prone to hypertension than women, while older women between 30-50 years of age are more
likely to be suffering from hypertension.

2.7 Family:
Genetics is seen to be big culprit in hypertension. Children usually inherit from their parents.
Moreover, the family setup contributes a lot to hypertension. For example, a son may escape this
by moving to a bigger city, finding a better partner, better job or better lifestyle, but a son who
remains on his fathers farm, may not have escaped it, either triggering the inherited
hypertension due to his socio-economic issues, or his socio-economic problems being the cause
of the hypertension (even if his family did not have a history of it)

2.8 Country of origin:

Mainly, the classification goes: Afro Americans > Hispanics > other Immigrants >White
Americans. This can be attributed to the differences in income, quality of life, mental satisfaction
and general equity of all the ethnicities. Due to underlying racist policies, African Americans
suffer the most from hypertension while White Americans suffer least.

3 Social factors:
3.1 Education:

Studies show that people having 12 to 16 years of education have a lesser prevalence of
hypertension, than those with lesser education. Hypertension is 60% higher in those with less
than 12 years of education as compared to those with more years of education.

3.2 Income and Occupation:

Those with blue collar jobs have a higher rate of hypertension, as compared to those with white
collar and corporate jobs. Moreover, people with household income of over $10,000 have a
lesser percentage of hypertension, than those with lower income (or living in a lower income
neighborhood)

3.3 Ethnicity and race:

As mentioned above, African Americans suffer more from hypertension than Hispanics, or white
Americans. Black Americans are at a staggering 80% than whites.

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3.4 Religion:

Religion seems to play an odd role in this. It is seen that those religiously inclined (especially
Muslims, Christians and Buddhists) are less prone to hypertension than those with little to no
religious affiliations. This is because those people claim to find mental peace and good guidance
in their religions.

3.5 Geographic region:

Southern states, vastly rural ones, show a significantly higher rate of hypertension than Central
and North American states and cities.

4 Personal views:
Looking at the facts and figures, it can be said that it boils down to main factors such as income,
lifestyle and facilities. Hypertension problems can be greatly solved if one wants to. If you have
a less income, move out and about and dont settle for less. Studies indicate that rural areas have
a higher index of hypertension; it means that the states need to work on improving the condition
of the rural areas, and moreover, the people themselves need to make their lives more
constructive. I believe that while hypertension is a growing threat, it canbe combatted easily if
you find the proper professional help.

5. References:
1. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=conhealthsymp

(pg 105 -108)

2. http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr07-614.pdf

(pg 1 -11)

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20232251

4.http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/UnderstandYourRiskforHighBlood
Pressure/Understand-Your-Risk-for-High-Blood-Pressure_UCM_002052_Article.jsp#.WC3O3eZ9600

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5. "Effects of Treatment on Morbidity in Hypertension," Journal of the American Medical Association
202 (December 11,1967): 1028-1034.

6. Sidney M. Stahl, "Baseline Hypertension Knowledge Survey,"

7. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150109.php

8. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/basics/definition/con-20019580

9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertension

10. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/871981

11. http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/

12. https://medlineplus.gov/highbloodpressure.html

13. http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/high-blood-pressure-diet

14. http://www.everydayhealth.com/high-blood-pressure/guide/diet/

15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1386202/

16. Hypertension Optimal Treatment (HOT) Study Home Blood Pressure in Treated Hypertensive
Subjects by Sverre E. Kjeldsen, Thomas Hedner, Kenneth Jamerson, Stevo Julius, William E. Haley,
Miguel Zabalgoitia, Amir R. Butt, S. Noor Rahman and Lennart Hansson and for the HOT Study Group

17. Comparison of cross-sectional renal function measurements in African Americans with hypertensive
nephrosclerosis and of primary formulas to estimate glomerular filtration rate by Julia Lewis, MD,
Lawrence Agodoa, MD, DeAnna Cheek, MD, Tom Greene, PhD, John Middleton, MD, Daniel O'Connor,
MD, Akinlou Ojo, MD, Robert Phillips, MD, PhD, Mohammed Sika, PhD, Jackson Wright Jr, MD, PhD,
African-American Study of Hypertension and Kidney Disease

18. The Hypertension Optimal Treatment study and the importance of lowering blood pressure by
Hansson L.