Katie Cass
Hypertension is one of the most common medical diagnoses worldwide affecting 1 in 4 adults. It is also a disease process that can negatively affect many systems within the body. Hypertension has a lack of symptoms and a pathophysiology that is complex as it can worsen and/or is caused by pathophysiological factors from other disease processes. Identification of the type of hypertension is important in determining the course of treatment and nursing process used for the hypertensive patient. Lifestyle changes, pharmacological interventions, and patient education are all crucial in ensuring that hypertensive patients have good outcomes.
Do you think the high diagnosis of hypertension could be linked with our society’s caffeine dependency? It’s just interesting to me that any demographic can be effected but so many Americans rely on coffee and energy drinks and you said that can worsen the condition.
Thank you for the great question. There are two different schools of thought on how caffeine raises blood pressure. The first is that caffeine blocks a hormone that helps keep your arteries open; when your arteries are constricted, your blood pressure rises. The second school of thought says caffeine causes your adrenal glands to release more adrenaline which causes blood pressure to rise. The effect of caffeine on blood pressure is typically seen very quickly after ingesting it and the blood pressure doesn’t stay at a sustained high level for long. Chronic caffeine users are interesting because some tend to have higher average blood pressures than non-caffeine drinkers while some become desensitized to caffeine and it has no long-term effect on their blood pressures. While caffeine use on a regular basis can certainly worsen a person’s hypertension, I don’t think it’s the cause of the high hypertension rate in America. America’s hypertension rate is linked more to the high prevalence of conditions like obesity and diabetes.
Before watching this presentation, hypertension was among those words that I’d heard before without knowing exactly what it was. I had no clue how prevalent this condition is. If 1 in 4 people are affected by hypertension, then it makes me wonder how many people are living with it unaware. How many people only discover they have a condition they can monitor and treat too late?
I imagine, like so many other health issues, the causes of hypertension can be viewed intersectionally. It’s interesting that in one of your slides you mention how genetics and environment can be strong indicators of hypertension. I wonder how much those two factors play a part in the ultimate phenotypical expression of an organism. The fact that hypertension is most common in non-Hispanic Black adults is telling when considering the stressors the system places on that population. A genetic locus that controls for skin pigmentation interacts with an environment of interpersonal and structural racism to create a more active sympathetic nervous system. When considering diet, one can easily tie the lack of quality food sources present within majority black communities and come to similar conclusions.
You bring up an some interesting points, Erik. I agree that some contributing factors to hypertension can be looked at from an intersectional standpoint. Hypertension is prevalent among African Americans and so is diabetes. Hypertension can worsen diabetes and cause diabetic related complications while people with diabetes are predisposed to atherosclerosis (artery hardening) which causes high blood pressure. When you throw those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged into the mix you have quite the issue. People in this situation often lack access to medical care, affordable medications, and affordable/healthy foods which all worsen their health conditions.
This was a very helpful and informative presentation. It is shocking to me that this disease is so prevalent and is in 1 out of every 4 people. That makes me question how many people I have met that deal with this disease, and also if anyone in my family has it.
Hi there!
You know, when talking about the common diseases that plague the U.S. people usually point towards heart disease rather than hypertension which can lead to heart disease. It really puts heart disease in another context when your faced with facts like that 1 in 4 adults have hypertension.
Although, I do wonder how these statistics would look if we excluded people with comorbidities or diseases that may otherwise be related to hypertension like diabetes and obesity.
Furthermore, I did not know about this deadly connection between hypertension and the kidneys. Nor do I think most people consider the kidneys when thinking about hypertension and blood pressure — they usually just think about how that might effect your heart. I feel like an effort should be made to make this more within the realm of common knowledge
This was a very informative presentation. You went into more detail than I come to expect from presentations involving health conditions.
Thanks!