When left untreated for extended periods, hypertension of any sort will cause serious and significant problems in the body's organs and tissues. Some of these disease processes are described below:
- Malignant Hypertension. This is a life-threatening worsening of essential hypertension In this condition, the blood pressure becomes very high (for example, 200mmHg over 100 mmHg) and organs become damaged as a result of the high pressure. Organ damage may take many forms, including alterations of consciousness (drowsiness, confusion), kidney failure, retinopathy (damage to the eye), and many forms of 'end organ damage'. It is important for someone with hypertension to seek urgent medical attention if they experience unexplained drowsiness or confusion, blurred vision, nausea, or headache.
- Heart Disease. Heart attack and heart failure are the two most common types of heart disease that are directly related to high blood pressure. It is estimated that half the people who get heart attacks have high blood pressure. People with high blood pressure have a five time greater risk of heart attack compared to their normotensive (normal blood pressure) peers. Heart failure usually results when the heart is weakened over time by having to struggle to pump blood through a high pressure system. The heart, like any other muscle, gets larger when it has hard work to do. As the heart increases in size it becomes 'musclebound' and paradoxically becomes a less efficient pump. The result is heart failure, where blood backs up into the lungs and organs don't get the blood and nourishment they need. Please refer to our Heart Disease document for further detail).
- Stroke. People with high blood pressure have up to ten times greater risk of stroke compared to their normotensive (normal blood pressure) peers. In addition to large scale strokes, chronic high blood pressure can also cause micro-vascular infarcts (blockages within very small blood vessels inside the brain) and lacunar strokes (small strokes in the brain). The cumulative brain damage over time from these little strokes can lead to dementia (diminished capacity to think and do activities of daily living) and to larger strokes.
- Kidney Disease. Hypertension is second only to diabetes in causing renal (kidney) failure. Fully thirty percent of serious End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is caused by high blood pressure! ESRD patients' kidneys cannot function to purify their blood. They require mechanical cleaning of their blood (dialysis) in order to stay alive. Another type of kidney disease, kidney cancer, is a risk for men with high blood pressure.
- Retinopathy. The retina is the name for the sensory tissues located at the back of the eye. The retina is essential for vision. Damage to the retina can result in blindness. High blood pressure can damage the delicate and small blood vessels that serve the retina, resulting in disease and blindness.
- Osteoporosis. Women with high blood pressure appear to be at risk for bone loss, possibly due to loss of calcium through the urine. Bone loss can lead to bone fractures which can be very dangerous, especially for older people (where hip fractures can have up to a fifty percent mortality rate).
- Sexual Dysfunction. Hypertension can cause erectile dysfunction and impotence, especially in smokers. In addition, medications targeting impotence (like Viagra and Cialis) may not be safe for people with uncontrolled high blood pressure.
