Risk Assessment Report: Hypertension

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Hypertension (HTN) is a chronic disease determined by high levels of blood pressure in the arteries, thus the heart must exert more effort than normal order to circulate blood through the blood vessels. In Canada, approximately 6 million people over 20 years or more have been diagnosed with HTN being this disease the most common cardiovascular disease and is a major risk factor for the most common cardiovascular diseases: such as stroke and myocardial infarction, which are responsible for about 29% of deaths in Canada in 2011 (Statistics Canada, 2011)

Are considered risk factors for the development of HTN: Age (the age of greatest risk being the 40 years or older), gender and ethnicity (the prevalence is higher among men, in relation to ethnicity, is more prevalent in not caucasians individuals), overweight and obesity, excessive intake of sodium, alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyle, socioeconomic factors and genetics.

Controllable Disease Risk Factors

Obesity and overweight increase considerably the risk of HTN, in addition to providing excess fat in the blood, diabetes and heart disease. Who has HTN, to gain weight, will have a higher pressure and, by losing weight, this pressure this will drop. Weight loss in overweight or obese people will reduces the risk of heart disease, because it provides a reduction in LDL cholesterol that is deposited in the arteries. In addition, the loss of weight still increases the HDL cholesterol, which removes cholesterol from the blood, thus avoiding its buildup in the arteries.

Most of my family (my parents, aunts and uncles) are obese, which increases the risk of becoming obese in the future. However, it is necessary to take into consideration that obesity is a factor that can be controll...

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• DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. (2002, November). Primary Prevention of Hypertension: Clinical and Public Health Advisor. National High Blood Pressure Education Program, 02. Retrieved April 5, 2014, from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/heart/hbp/pphbp.pdf

• Canada: Canada's national statistical agency. (2013, February 11). Statistics Canada. High blood pressure, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2014, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2012001/article/11663-eng.htm

• Department of Health & Human Services. (2011, February 1). Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Retrieved April 5, 2014, from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hd/atrisk.html

• Reckelhoff, J. F. (2001). Gender Differences in the Regulation of Blood Pressure. Hypertension, 37(5), 1199-1208.

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