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Primary and secondary hypertension 

 

Nearly 95 per cent of all hypertensives suffer from what is called primary hypertension or essential HT. In these cases, despite all investigations, one cannot attribute any direct cause for the problem of hypertension. There could be a whole lot of contributory factors, like your lifestyle or various hereditary factors. The other type of hypertension is termed as secondary HT, which afflicts about 4-5 per cent of all hypertensives. This means raised blood pressure is caused due to some basic disease, leading to high blood pressure. Common causes of secondary hypertension are :

  • Kidney problem. Narrowing down of the aorta as a result of which the main blood vessel narrows down, causing the blood pressure to shoot up. 

  • Adrenal gland dysfunction. Adrenal glands are small endocrine glands lying on top of the kidneys which produce a secretion called adrenaline and noradrenaline, leading to contraction of the arteries. This causes the blood pressure to rise. 

  • Thyroid abnormality, like hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, in which secretion of the thyroid hormone causes changes int eh pulse rate, blood pressure and enlargement of the heart. 

  • Continuous use of oral contraceptive pills, as is common in India, without a regular monitoring by the doctor. 

  • Indiscriminate use of oral steroids. Steroids, taken for skin disease, asthma and for weight gain, can often lead to diabetes and hypertension along with a host of other problems. 

  • Sleep anpnoea is a problem that is attracting great interest with many researchers on sleep losing sleep over this subject. This is a subject which will continue to be mired in controversy for years to come. 

  • Pre-eclampsia or eclampsia of pregnancy is a disease which lasts as long as the pregnancy does. One may even be forced to terminate such a pregnancy before the expected date. In such cases, almost all subsequent pregnancies would develop pre-eclampsia or eclampsia. Such women are at a greater risk of developing hypertension later in life.