High Blood Pressure Research Paper

(Marieb and Hoehn, 2010, p 703) defined Blood Pressure (BP) as ‘the force per unit area exerted on a vessel wall by the contained blood, and is expressed in millimetres of mercury (mm Hg)’. BP is still one of the essential and widely used assessment tools in healthcare settings. Nurses generally record the arterial BP which is the forced exerted blood that flows through the arteries, to establish a baseline and to determine any risk factors. BP

According to the office of the minority health, approximately 48% of African American women and 44% of African American men suffer from some form of the cardiovascular disease which includes heart disease and stroke and adults are 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure while the women are 1.6 times more likely to die from heart diseases and complications than other ethnic groups (The Office of Minority Health, 2016).

The blood circulates around the body. The heart contract and relax, this mechanism of heart makes the blood to flow in the arteries to the body from heart and come back from body to heart through veins. The arteries carry oxygenated blood or oxygen rich blood and the veins carry deoxygenated blood or oxygen poor blood. This flow creates the pressure on the arterial wall and the pressure that is exerted on the arterial wall is known as blood pressure. Blood pressure is expressed by the

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.

The risks of getting those diseases are even higher for African Americans.” (American Heart Association). High blood pressure and obesity are the common conditions that increase a heart disease. High blood pressure is a condition in which the blood flow is abnormally higher than usual in the arteries. “Nearly 42% percent black men and 45% black women of twenty years and older have high blood pressure” (DeNoon). Researchers may have found a gene in blacks that make them more sensitive to salt, which in the long run increases the risk of high blood pressure. Obesity in african americans is more common as well, which increases the risk of heart disease. 63% of black men and 77% of black women are overweight or obese. A solution for high blood pressure and obesity is a healthy diet and exercise. It won’t only reduce the chances of getting these conditions but also reduce the chances of a heart disease or a

Hypertension is a condition of the heart where excessive amount of pressure is introduced in the blood vessels. The excessive pressure created in the blood vessels causes a lot of damage to the vessels and can lead to serious complications. This condition can affect everybody but the chances of acquiring these diseases are high in older people. Specific for Hispanics, they stand a higher chance of developing hypertension than other lineages in America. Some of the diseases they are prone to are cardiovascular, obesity in young people and diabetes.

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

African-American women have a higher rate of hypertension (high blood pressure) than white women and Hispanic women. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 34.2% of the Black, non-Hispanic female population between 1998 and 1994 had hypertension 22.0% of Hispanic women and 19.3% of White; non-Hispanic women had hypertension during this time.” (NWHIC, 2015) A few of the reasons African-American women have a higher rate of hypertension is because of genetic and environmental factors, also dietary factors such as their bad eating habits and huge salt

Hypertension is a developing problem worldwide associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In 2020, the world population will be approximately 7.8 billion people, and there will be 1 billon people who may be affected by hypertension (Tomson & Lip, 2005). One in three adults in the United States has high blood pressure. According to the report “Health, United States, 2010 with Special Feature on Death and Dying,” the prevalence of hypertension among adults 20 years old or older increased from 24% to 32% during 1988-1994 and 2005-2008. The African-American population has a higher prevalence of this health condition than white Americans do. In 2005 to 2008, the prevalence of hypertension among black males (41.4%) was more than 10%,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines High Blood Pressure as the force of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries, which carry blood from your heart to other parts of your body. Blood pressure normally rises and falls throughout the day. But if it stays high for a long time, it can damage your heart and lead to health problems. High blood pressure raises your risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States. One out of every three adults over the age of twenty- that’s nearly eighty million Americans have high blood pressure. What’s more interesting is that nearly twenty percent don’t even know they don’t have it. Consequently, African American suffer more from this disease than any other race. According to the American Heart Association, forty percent of African American men and women have high blood pressure (AHA, 2016). Notably, adults twenty years and older consist of 42.6 percent are men and 47.0 percent are women that have this illness. For years’ researchers, have tried to understand why High Blood Pressure affect the African American at a higher rate than others. As a

Hypertension (HTN), also referred to as high blood pressure, is a condition characterized by elevated systemic arterial blood pressure. An elevated blood pressure is considered to be a systolic pressure of at least 140 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or a diastolic pressure of at least 90 mmHg. HTN is among the most common risk factors for heart disease among African Americans (Ferdinanc, 2006) and one of the leading causes of deaths in the United States. Spencer et.al., (2011) states that it is one of the leading indicators that contribute to heart disease, the leading cause of death in Baltimore City. Sickness and death from heart disease are much more likely to strike African Americans than Whites in Baltimore (DHMH, 2005). Spencer continues that in Baltimore City hospitalization percentage for 100,000 populations under 75 years old was 136.6 for Blacks and 15 for Whites.

The heart pumps blood into the arteries and the force of the blood pushing against blood vessel walls is called blood pressure. Arteries carry the blood throughout the body. High blood pressure is also know as hypertension and is very dangerous in many different ways. One way is that it makes the heart have to work harder in order to pump the blood to the body. Secondly it contributes to hardening of the arteries and lastly, it also contributes to heart failure. A healthy heart is essential to life and having high blood pressure it not healthy for the heart. It has been proven that there are many different causes that have been linked to high blood pressure.

It is the measurement of the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls. A blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope is what are used to measure this. While taking you blood pressure two numbers are recorded; Systolic pressure and Diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure is the higher number that refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart contracts and pumps blood through the body. Diastolic pressure is the lower number and refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart is at rest and is filling with blood. Having high blood pressure can increase the risk of coronary heart disease (i.e. heart attack, stroke).

With the information found with what a patient’s blood pressure is, it helps health care providers understand the state of the patient’s health. A patient’s blood pressure measures the amount of pressure exerted on arterial walls in the patient’s heart. Blood pressure is measured in two numbers: systolic and diastolic. Systolic, the number listed first in blood pressure readings, reports the amount of force exerted by the blood into the arteries during ventricular contraction.

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