What are the risk (predisposing) factors of hypertension?
There are various risk factors of hypertension. They include obesity, using excessive amounts of salt, lack of physical exercise, hereditary and race, and economic factors.
Obese people are at greater risk for high BP regardless of age and gender. Reducing your body weight by only 5 to 10 pounds will improve BP significantly. By and large, most people in the United States consume 5 to 6 times more salt daily than their bodies need. For some people, a high salt intake seriously intensifies high BP.
An inactive lifestyle-lack of physical exercise-can have a causal affect, resulting in high BP in certain individuals.
Heredity also plays a role in high BP; it seems to run in the same family and can coexist with environmental and economic factors. Age and gender are closely related to heredity: As you age, your BP rises, and some people develop high BP. Men are at greater risk than women for high BP until the age of 55 or so.
Alcohol consumption and smoking can bring about hypertension. You may not realize it, but use of oral contraceptives by some women can predispose them to high BP.
High BP is much more common in blacks and Hispanics than in whites. Socioeconomic factors also play a part in risk. People in poor socioeconomic environments exhibit a greater incidence of high BP and a higher death rate from coronary artery disease and stroke. Unhealthy nutrition with high fat and salt intake may explain these findings.
For some people, a high salt intake seriously intensifies high BP.
