A Detailed List Of Hypertension Causes

Hypertension which is also known as high blood pressure is a medical condition which stays for a longer run and is subjected to the high blood pressure faced by the arteries inside a human body. The longer this medical condition resides in a human body, the greater is the chance of an individual to get affected with other major diseases like coronary artery disease, stroke, chronic heart or kidney failure. It can also cause vision loss in several cases.

Generally, hypertension is categorized into two main divisions which are primary high blood pressure and secondary high blood pressure. As per noted by the experts, almost 90-95% of hypertension condition falls under the category of primary high blood pressure, which is usually caused by the genetic factors and the lifestyle of an individual. But, the rare condition of secondary high blood pressure is also there and which is a result of several identifiable causes like chronic kidney disease, or by the usage of birth control pills, or due to some other specific factor. In this article, we will be going through a detailed list of hypertension causes for each of its categories.

Detailed List Of Hypertension Causes

As already mentioned before, hypertension is categorized into two major categories:

1. Primary (or Essential) Hypertension

2. Secondary Hypertension

1. Primary (or Essential) Hypertension

There is a type of hypertension, which does not come with an identifiable cause. The cause for such kind of high blood pressure is generically categorized as lifestyle based factors and the genetic factors. And, in a few cases, even the environment is taken into consideration. This type of hypertension falls under the category of primary (or essential) hypertension. This kind of hypertension root itself gradually over a span of several years.

Causes of Primary Hypertension:

1.1. Genetic Factors:

If your ancestral history suggests that your genes might carry the medical condition of hypertension, then you are most likely to get it. Black people are 4 times more likely to get affected by primary or essential hypertension than the white people. This medical condition elevates drastically in case of high mortality rate, especially in black people. Generic factors in form of genetic mutations or genetic abnormalities can also add up to the cause of hypertension.

1.2. Lifestyle-based Factors

* Aging

Aging factor is mostly considered as one of the major cause of hypertension. But, this factor is taken into consideration when the other few factors add into this particular cause. For an instance, if an individual is facing stiffening of arteries due to aging which in turn causes a reduction in vascular compliance then there is a fair chance that the individual will suffer from hypertension. In another example, if an individual gets affected with the hindrance in the sodium excretion then he/she is most likely to get affected by renal microvascular disease or capillary rarefaction. Both of these diseases also cause essential hypertension. More specifically, rental microvascular diseases make your body prone to salt-sensitive hypertension.

* Obesity

Obesity is another factor which increases the chances of hypertension by 5 times. A person with normal weight will not suffer from this medical condition easily. Obesity gives rise to sympathetic nervous system and renin–angiotensin-aldosterone system which is well-known inducing hypertension in an individual’s body. The two-thirds of hypertension cases are occurred due to excess weight.

* Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol is one of those beverages which do not add much to calorific value but adds much to calorie. Thus, alcohol consumption leads to obesity. This issue of obesity eventually affects the blood pressure of an individual. Hence, alcohol consumption indirectly leads to high blood pressure condition.

* Renin

Renin is an enzyme which is directly linked to the steroid hormone which is aldosterone. There are studies which suggest that low concentration of renin in one’s body directly affects the blood pressure in arteries. This type of hypertension is very common in Afro-Americans. Even the high renin levels have also been a cause of hypertension in many situations.

* Diabetes

Insulin resistance is another cause for hypertension. Insulin’s main purpose is to maintain a proper balance of glucose level in a human body. It is also responsible for the vasodilatory properties. But, when insulin secretion gets hindered due to some specific reason, then there is a high chance of hypertension to crawl in your body.

* Deficiency of Vitamins

This is another indirect factor which contributes to hypertension. It is considered that the Vitamin D deficiency leads to cardiovascular diseases which in turn affects an individual with hypertension.

1.3. Environmental Factors

* Sodium (or Salt) Sensitivity

This is one of the major environmental factors that leads to the medical condition of hypertension. High sodium intake rate causes high pressure on blood arteries. To balance this a proper functioning sodium excretion system should be there in one’s body. The proper sodium excretion system maintains the vascular pressure. The high concentration of sodium in the body leads to higher percentage of water reabsorption in kidneys and thus it directly affects the condition of essential hypertension in an individual.

* Smoking

Smoking is not a direct factor which adds into the hypertension causes. But, smoking is something which can cause chronic cardiovascular diseases. And thus, smoking contributes to one of the factors of hypertension.

* Lack of Exercising

It is proven that the regular exercise can take care of hypertension in its own way. But, if an individual chooses not to dedicate a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise on a weekly basis then he/she is more likely to get affected by the medical condition of hypertension.

2. Secondary Hypertension

The type of hypertension which has an identifiable cause behind it falls under the category of secondary hypertension.

Causes of Secondary Hypertension

Here are the factors which can cause secondary hypertension in an individual:

* Endocrine conditions

Endocrine conditions like Cushing’s syndrome, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and a few others directly affects to the condition of hypertension.

* Sleep disorder like sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a kind of sleep disorder which occurs when an individual faces the issue of shallow breathing during his/her sleep hours.

* During pregnancy

* Excessive consumption of licorice

* Several medical drugs

* Certain herbal remedies

* CoA (Coarctation of the aorta)

It is a congenital condition.

That sums up the hypertension causes. Let us if we have left any of the major causes of hypertension.

Tiru Dehariya