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Types of High Blood Pressure
There are two main types of high blood pressure: one has no known causes, and the other has identifiable causes. Here is more:
Essential (primary) hypertension
This accounts for almost 90% of all hypertension cases, and has no identifiable causes. All the risk factors discussed earlier may lead to this kind of hypertension. It tends to develop very slowly and begins to manifest during old age. It may also result from genetic, behavioral, physical and environmental factors. Primary hypertension is not common in children or teenagers.
Secondary hypertension
This type does not occur very often, even though they are known to have identifiable causes. They are caused usually by peoples' reaction to some medication or some medical conditions. These medical conditions may include kidney problems (renovascular hypertension), adrenal gland tumors, thyroid disease, and narrowing of the aorta (the main artery that takes blood from the heart to the rest of the body). Kids with hypertension tend to have this type.
HBP does not always mean high systolic and diastolic pressure. Sometimes only the diastolic pressure is very high whiles the systolic pressure is normal. When this happens we call it Isolated diastolic hypertension.
When the systolic pressure is high and the diastolic pressure is normal, we call this Isolated systolic hypertension. People also can get high blood pressure from a single event of fright or tension from the clinic or hospital environment. This kind is called White Coat Hypertension (White coat syndrome)... and guess who wears the white coat? A doctor!
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