What are 10 High Blood Pressure Risk Factors You Should Know About?

10 High Blood Pressure Risk Factors You Should Know About

Anyone can develop hypertension, but certain factors could increase your odds of being diagnosed with high blood pressure. Learn what to watch out for.

It’s estimated that one-third of Americans have high blood pressure, or hypertension, and many of them don't even know that they have it. Understanding your risk for developing high blood pressure is an important tool for hypertension prevention. If you know your hypertension risk, you can take steps to decrease your chances of having a heart attack, heart disease, or a stroke.

"These diseases are largely preventable," says David Meyerson, MD, JD, director of Cardiology Consultation Services at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., and national spokesperson for the American Heart Association. Dr. Meyerson says that the key to preventing high blood pressure-related diseases is to keep tabs on your personal risk factors and your blood pressure numbers.

Assess Your Hypertension Risk

The following factors can increase your risk of developing hypertension:

Family history. If one of your parents, siblings, or other close blood relatives has high blood pressure, you are at increased risk of developing it. When considering your hypertension risk, Meyerson says that it is important to ask yourself, "Who am I? Where do I come from?" If people in your family have a history of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, or diabetes, there is a good chance that history may repeat itself, he says.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/hypertension/hypertension-risk-factors-to-know-about.aspx

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