Alcohol And Anti Hypertension Medications Essay

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a major health condition which affects many Americans. This health condition may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. A normal blood pressure consists of systolic blood pressure divided by diastolic blood pressure, 120/80mmHg (millimeters of mercury). High blood pressure is defined as systolic pressure which is greater than 140mm Hg, and diastolic pressure which is over 90mm Hg. Hypertension influences the health outcomes of black Americans more than other races in the United States. Racial discrimination and socioeconomic status are two major factors which influence the rate of high blood pressure in the black American population.

Race-based medications seem highly personalized to the consumer but are simply a short cut to the goal of individually-specific medication. Marketing drugs targeted at particular phenotypes such as race is incredibly lucrative for pharmaceutical companies. For NitroMed, this factor will be especially important because African Americans have far higher cases of hypertension than whites while tending to be less responsive to normal treatments than their white counterparts.

Due to discrimination, hypertension is widely dominating in minorities. Back in 2007, it had been reported that 24 million individuals suffering from this condition are African Americans alone (Hall 210). In a

Hypertension is characterized as an elevation in blood pressure. A blood pressure reading consistently of 140/90 mm Hg or higher is classified as high blood pressure (Appel & Linas, 2012). Hypertension is classified as two forms and they are Essential hypertension and Secondary hypertension. Essential hypertension mainly develops through lifestyle factors such as diets high in salt or low in potassium, lack of exercise, and obesity (Appel & Linas, 2012). Secondary hypertension

Hypertension is predominantly a major problem for African Americans whose occurrence percentages are amongst the highest in the world (Heckler, Lambert, Leventhal, Leventhal, Jahn, & Contrada, 2008). Even though there have been meaningful progress in treatment of hypertension, the number of patients with well managed high blood pressure condition remain worryingly low, with the latest trends suggesting a high rise in the number of uncontrolled high blood pressure cases. This is

There are two types of hypertension depending on the etiology; primary and secondary hypertension. Primary hypertension is as a result of idiopathic causes and develops gradually for many years. It is therefore associated with the adults. The most probable causes of primary HTN are poor lifestyle choices like poor diet, stress, obesity and sedentary life styles (Mayoclinic staff, 2014). The other type –secondary hypertension- is caused by underlying known diseases. The most common diseases which cause this type of high blood pressure are associated with the endocrine system (Mayoclinic staff, 2014).

Hypertension is one degenerative disease that is prevalent among African Americans. African Americans are also known to be affected to this more than the American majority. First of all, Hypertension, which is also known as high blood pressure, is a serious medical condition in which the force of blood pumping through the arteries is too strong (Eisenberg, 2012). The heart is the organ in your body that pushes out blood to the arteries, and if it is too hard, the blood pressure will rise (Eisenberg, 2012). Approximately 40% of African Americans in the United States are known to have high blood pressure (High Blood Pressure and African Americans, 2014). These statistics shows that almost half of the total population is dealing with this condition.

African American has been plague with hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure or the “silent killer” for decades. It is estimated that approximately 72 million Americans - almost 1 in 3 adults – are affected by this disease (National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI)). However, hypertension is more common in African Americans than Whites and other ethnic groups for the different classifications of blood pressure levels. According to Rosamond et al., 2007” African Americans have the highest prevalence rate of hypertension in the world. For example, a national survey in the US, found that the age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension was 78.7% for non-Hispanic blacks, 46.7% for non-Hispanic whites, and 41.8% for Mexican-Americans

Alcohol and hypertension are two rising concerns in national and global health. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014), 56.9% of adults in the United States have participated in drinking in the last month. Furthermore, 24.7% adults reported to participating in heavy or binge drinking. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in 2012, 3.3 million deaths or 5.9% of all global deaths were linked to alcohol consumption and within the United States 88,000 people died from alcohol related causes making it the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States (Stahre, Roeber, & Kanny, 2014). The abundance of alcohol consumption has shown to lead to high rates of hypertension.

Hypertension is also a risk factor that plays a role in congestive heart failure. According to WebMD, high rates of high blood pressure in African-Americans may be due to the genetic make-up of people of African descent. It is stated that about 41% of blacks in the United States have high blood pressure compared to the 21% of whites with high blood pressure. Also blacks living in the United States are known to have the highest obesity rate than of any other country.

In response to Descartes power Point “The factors of hypertension in African Americans” Descartes started by comparing the effect of hypertension (high blood pressure) in African American from their white counterparts. She clearly explained the different kind of hypertension, essential(primary) which she clearly noted affects about 90-95% of hypertensive patients with no known secondary cause. The lesser secondary hypertension that affects 1-5% of patients and is caused by stress and other problems.

Hypertension is widely considered to be one of the most important risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (angina, arrhythmia, etc.). It is the second leading disease that causes mortality in the world. Hypertension is the condition when there is an increase in the force of blood on the walls of vessels. It can also be defined as an arterial blood pressure that is raised above 140/90 mm Hg (systolic/ diastolic BP). Hypertension can be classified into Secondary hypertension and Essential hypertension. When specific cause is evident but heredity, and various physiological parameters play a role in increasing blood pressure is known as Essential Hypertension. Secondary Hypertension is one where the cause is known. According to WHO guidelines between 2006 and 2015, deaths due to cardiovascular diseases are expected to increase by 17% while the deaths from infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, maternal and prenatal conditions are projected to decline by 3%. The main causes of hypertension includes the age ,hereditary, gender, extra weight, alcohol consumption, stress life, lazy life etc.

Hypertension (HTN) is a growing concern for many individuals in the United States today. As an African American with both parents diagnosed with HTN and on current blood pressure medications, it is vital that I recognize and educate myself on the contributing factors that could lead to HTN and its preventive measures. I first began to recognize and pay attention to my blood pressure in middle school. In order to play any sport, it was required to have a physical on file. Every time I went to have my blood pressure checked, the nurses or health care professionals taking my blood pressure would show concern on how high it was. I could not understand; I was a year-round athlete, fit, in shape, and drank plenty of water. I was defined as a healthy individual, yet I was constantly being plagued by high blood pressure (HBP). Moving along to high school, I enrolled in pre-nursing courses. It was always embarrassing when we would practice manual blood pressures and the students would get a high reading for me. They would then ask the instructor to check in case they were not recording my blood pressure correctly. My instructor would then look at me and state, “you have high BP, wow LaAstreia; you are too young.” From then on, I became anxious and self-conscious whenever my blood pressure would be checked. Recognizing this as potentially hereditary, I knew I had to take extra precautions to

Hypertension is defined as blood pressure greater than 140/90 mm Hg on two or more blood pressure readings taken at each of two or more visits after initial screening. There are two types of hypertension which are the primary (essential) hypertension and secondary hypertension. Essential hypertension is referred to patients with hypertension without any secondary identifiable cause. Secondary hypertension has an identifiable cause, such as renal artery stenosis or pheochromocytoma, and is managed as part of the primary condition (Papadakis, 2014).

Factors that contribute to hypertension are age, ethnicity, gender, and lifestyles as shown in Figure 1 (Yoon, Burt, Louis, & Carroll, 2012). While the prevalence of hypertension is relatively equal among men and women, certain ethnicities have a higher propensity for developing hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension in African-Americans is among the highest in the United States for a single ethnic group (Ferdinand & Armani, 2007). In the United States, around 78% of people suffering from hypertension are aware of their condition, with only 68% using hypertensive medications to control their blood