Docyard | Check your blood pressure regularly

Hypertension is a vital risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women but is often underestimated and undiagnosed. Hypertension seems to claim more women lives than any other diseases. Elevated blood pressure (BP) >140/90 mm Hg is associated with a shorter life expectancy overall. Although hypertension more commonly occurs in older people of age 50 and above, the number of women under age 35 being diagnosed with hypertension is on rising. As per a report published in Harvard Women’s Health Watch, hypertension affects 13 per cent of women under age 44, nearly half of women in their 60s, and 80 per cent or more of those over age 75. In many studies conducted on women with hypertension, it has been found that oral contraceptive tends to cause hypertension in many of the women who rely on this method of contraception.

What is high blood pressure or hypertension

High blood pressure indicates how hard the heart has to pump blood in order to get it flowing through the body. While 120/80 mm Hg indicates the normal blood pressure, anything above 140/90 indicates the occurrence of hypertension. An untreated hypertension can double the chance of getting a stroke and a heart attack while affecting the kidneys as well.

Causes of hypertension

• Diet: An unhealthy diet high in salt, fat, and cholesterol leads to obesity and puts women at the risk of developing high blood pressure. According to a recent report by the American Association of kidney patients, the high intake of sodium through food can also increase the fluid volume being filtered by kidney putting an extra pressure on their functioning. Therefore, women, who have a family history of obesity and hypertension, should closely monitor their salt, cholesterol and the fat intake.
• Drugs/ contraceptive pills: Many legal and unpopular drugs, as well as various beverages, can contribute to hypertension in women. Tobacco, alcohol and birth control pills have shown to increase blood pressure by contributing to increased body weight, water retention and thinning of the arteries. Most of the birth control pills have one or the other form of progesterone hormone which has been shown to elevate blood pressure in women.

Drugs such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen can increase the body’s fluid retention and therefore, severely impact the functionality of the kidneys. Pain management drugs, antidepressants, caffeine, cold medicines (decongestants), herbal supplements, immunosuppressants, and stimulants may contribute severely to hypertension.

• Pregnancy: Pregnant women are at high risk of developing gestational hypertension. While it is a temporary condition and goes away after pregnancy but in some women, it may prevail for a lifetime. Moreover, gestational hypertension not only increases risk and complication for the expectant mother but for the fetus as well. There are few blood-pressures regulating drugs which are available upon prescription for pregnant women which has been shown to have the minimum deleterious effect on the baby and the mother during pregnancy.

Hypertension management

Some of the steps to manage hypertension includes weight reduction, physical activity, dietary sodium reduction and moderation of caffeine and alcohol consumption. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, and with reduced saturated and total fat, helps in lowering the blood pressure. If women develop high blood pressure due to oral contraceptives, they should stop the contraceptive and switch to a different form of birth control.

Better education and information on treating hypertension is needed and more studies on the interaction between gender and response to antihypertensive drugs are of interest. There is not enough awareness about hypertension in women, but they, in fact, are very prone to develop high blood pressure at all ages. Furthermore, acknowledgment of risk factors that are unique for women could help to prevent the great number of hypertension-related events in women.