High blood prere (arterial hypertension) has long been on the top ten list of threatening diseases worldwide. The good news: In Germany, the number of patients who, thanks to treatment, return to the normal range – according to the current definition, blood prere values up to 139/89 mmHg – has almost doubled since 2008.
Conversely, however, this also means that a not insignificant proportion of patients have not yet been satisfactorily treated. Therefore, the general goal of therapy remains to reliably reduce values below 140/90 mmHg, if possible even below 130/80 mmHg. More precisely, patients under the age of 65 should consult their systolic blood prere values between 120 and 129 mmHg – if they tolerate it well. According to the new recommendations. More on this in the chapter "High blood prere (hypertension): Therapy".
Blood prere: What is normal, when is high blood prere??
As normal At present, blood prere values are considered to be normal or high up to 139/89 mmHg. As optimal values below 120/80 mmHg classified. Limits for self-measurement: below 135/85 mmHg. Long-term measurement: The Daily mean value should below 135/85 mmHg should be 24-hour mean below 130/80 mmHg.
According to the current general definition, high blood prere means that repeatedly measured values from 140/90 mmHg (measurement in the doctor's office).
What happens with high blood prere?
With high blood prere, the prere in the vessels is increased. The problem: At first, it hardly causes any discomfort. Therefore, high blood prere often remains undiagnosed and untreated for a long time. Day after day, too much prere in the circulation – in the long run, however, this overloads the heart and other vital organs. Also, natural vascular aging sets in earlier and progresses faster with hypertension. Vessels calcify prematurely ( arteriosclerosis ).
Therefore, along with smoking, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia, high blood prere is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, especially heart attacks and strokes. Kidney and eye diseases are also often caused by high blood prere. Over time, kidney failure can occur. The result may be visual impairment (hypertensive retinopathy). The risk of premature disability. Death is clearly increased.
It follows: High blood prere is treated to lower the elevated prere and prevent life-threatening secondary diseases such as heart attack and stroke.
High blood prere comes predominantly as high blood prere "in itself", that is, as primary hypertension, before. Only about ten to 15 percent of those affected have other diseases, such as kidney, adrenal or thyroid problems. Doctors call this secondary hypertension. With treatment of the cause, the elevated blood prere usually normalizes here.
Symptoms of elevated blood prere
Initially, symptoms are often absent. Later, general symptoms may occur, such as dizziness, headaches, palpitations or palpitations, shortness of breath on exertion, nervousness, and sometimes also sleep disturbances (for more information, see the chapter "High blood prere (hypertension): symptoms"). Other signs of the disease depend on possible vascular-. organ damage due to the increased prere from.
! Attention: Sudden visual disturbances, for example double images, in addition symptoms such as tingling, numbness or a paralysis on one side of the body – on the arm, leg or face (suspicious here: face distorted on one side, hanging corner of the mouth) -, a speech disorder or suddenly occurring severe headaches can be warning signs or symptoms of a stroke: Immediately call the emergency physician (rescue coordination center), Emergency call 112) alarm!
High blood prere: diagnosis
Repeated prere measurements and long-term blood prere monitoring can confirm the diagnosis. If not already known, the physician will determine whether there are other risk factors for cardiovascular disease (see "Hypertension – Causes, Risk Factors"). This is partly a matter of family history and lifestyle. Keywords: body weight, lack of exercise, stress, diet (salt consumption, alcohol consumption), smoking. On the other hand, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, lipid metabolism disorders with high cholesterol and an elevated uric acid level / gout are in the focus of the doctor. That is, he follows up a corresponding suspicion. Treats pathological changes according to current standards.