Nearly 6.8 million adults are hypertensive in this country. These data, collected from 1999-2004, are consistent with previous estimates that the prevalence of hypertension has not decreased in men, and is less likely to reflect a population change from an underlying population prevalence.
Although people often feel well with medication for hypertension for two to three years, most do not remain on antihypertensive medications for the rest of their lives. In addition to medication, behavioral interventions may be beneficial for promoting adherence to medications. Moreover, when medication is effective, it can decrease cardiovascular risk factors in overweight and obese individuals with moderate to high blood pressure.
Hypertension can occur at any age as it results from the body's inability to process adequate amounts of blood or the blood vessels being too weak to hold on to the blood vessel walls.\n
The majority of hypertension in the general population is due to the association of hypertension with other risk factors such as smoking and diabetes. Dietary factors seem to have a small effect on hypertension whereas drugs do not seem to influence the risk. There is a clear association of hypertension with several modifiable risk factors in a dose dependent manner. Hypertension treatment should be individualized for each patient as it improves both the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Hypertension is an important risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Many patients with moderate-to-severe blood pressure increase can be safely reduced to normal treatment levels by careful lifestyle choices.
Most people with diabetes have pre-existing high blood pressure. However, in a proportion, it becomes troublesome or life-threatening without being noticed. Hypertensive signs are most prominent at night and often occur with an aura, or suddenly in the middle of a normal waking day. The best indication of hypertension arises from the assessment of the blood pressure when there is an acute angle of at least 15º between the systolic and diastolic blood pressures.
Recent research on lifestyle changes, medications, and surgeries help prevent hypertension and treat it. A recent Cochrane review shows evidence that combining lifestyle factors will lower blood pressure better than just one lifestyle change; medications may be reasonable for some people with elevated blood pressure, but there is insufficient evidence to recommend more than one medication; and surgery may help people who have not had blood pressure control for more than 3 months or those who continue to have high blood pressure despite medication. Although a combination of all approaches may be best, most people with prehypertension will eventually need to start medication or take a blood pressure-lowering operation. (More information on individual approaches can be found on the NHS Choices website.
These studies can play a key role in improving guideline-based care. They should also help physicians and patients understand the potential benefits and risks of medication in order to make informed decisions. These studies should not be substitute for standard care but a tool for improving outcomes.
We found that electroacupuncture has good, reliable and positive effects on hypertension, which are the same as of the AT group. Therefore, electroacupuncture is an effective form of treatment for hypertension. Further large-scale studies are necessary to more thoroughly evaluate its effectiveness and safety.
In a recent study, findings of this study have shown that the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture in treating essential hypertension would not be attributed to a specific effect on blood pressure. Thus, the effect of acupuncture has not been supported as a treatment for hypertension. The lack of an observed effect of acupuncture on post-exercise blood pressure also suggests the hypothesis that acupuncture does not have any direct effect on cardiovascular system.
People may be harmed from EA test, which causes serious adverse reactions including serious adverse effects on cardiovascular and central nervous system. Results from a recent clinical trial has led to us modifying the EA test protocol, emphasizing that EA test need to be carefully supervised, which has significant advantages on safety and effectiveness.
Recent findings showed that the new EA devices are safe, accurate and reproducible for electro-acupuncture treatment, and it could help to identify an individual's need for the acupuncture in their therapeutic procedure, which can improve the long-term treatment effectiveness for patients with chronic conditions like hypertension. In addition, it could be an effective complement tool for acupuncture professionals in identifying patients' need for acupuncture in their therapeutic procedure and also predicting treatment outcome and facilitating their therapeutic procedure planning for individual patient.