Hypertension refers to clinical syndromes characterized by increased systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm hg, diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm hg) and accompanied by functional or physical damage of heart, brain, kidney and other organs.

　　Hypertension is the most common chronic disease and the main risk factor of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Normal blood pressure fluctuates within a certain range with the change of internal and external environment. In whole crowd, blood pressure level rises gradually along with age, with systolic blood pressure more apparent, but diastolic blood pressure after 50 years old presents downward trend, pulse pressure also increases subsequently.

　　Causes of hypertension

　　1. Genetic factors

　　About 60 percent of people with hypertension have a family history. At present, it is believed that it is caused by multi-gene inheritance, and 30% ~ 50% of hypertension patients have genetic background.

　　2. Mental and environmental factors

　　Long-term mental tension, excitement, anxiety, by noise or adverse visual stimulation and other factors can also cause hypertension.

　　3. Age

　　The incidence tends to increase with age, with a higher incidence among people over 40 years of age.

　　4. Lifestyle factors

　　Unreasonable diet structure, such as too much sodium salt, low potassium diet, heavy drinking, intake of too much saturated fatty acids can increase blood pressure. Smoking accelerates the process of atherosclerosis, a risk factor for high blood pressure.

　　How to prevent

　　Hypertension is a preventable and controllable disease. For patients with high normal blood pressure of 130-139/85-89mmhg, overweight/obesity, long-term high-salt diet and excessive alcohol consumption, key intervention should be carried out, regular health check-up should be conducted, and risk factors should be actively controlled.

　　For patients with hypertension, regular follow-up and blood pressure measurement should be conducted, especially the management of early morning blood pressure, active treatment of hypertension (combined with drug therapy and lifestyle intervention), slow down the damage of target organs, prevent the occurrence of heart, brain and kidney complications, and reduce the disability rate and mortality rate.