Causes of Hypertension - Something You Need to Know

Many might not be aware that many prescription and over-the-counter drugs can cause or exacerbate hypertension. For example, corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs increase blood pressure in most solid-organ transplant recipients. Medication taken for pain and inflammation such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors may raise blood pressure since their antiprostaglandin properties affect the kidneys.

As you might know, tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco) contain nicotine, which temporarily increases blood pressure (for about thirty minutes or less). The blood pressure of smokers should be rechecked after thirty minutes if initial readings are high. Nicotine patches that are used for smoking cessation do not appear to increase blood pressure.

There does not appear to be a direct relationship between caffeine and chronic hypertension, even though caffeine intake can cause an acute (rapid but brief) increase in blood pressure. This may be due to the fact that tolerance to caffeine develops rapidly.

Note that chronic overuse of alcohol is a potentially reversible cause of hypertension. Five percent of hypertension is due to alcohol consumption and 30 to 60 percent of alcoholics have hypertension. Alcohol-induced hypertension is more likely to occur in women than men.

What Women Must Know About Cholesterols

Cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of American women, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). As with men, elevated cholesterol levels signal danger for a woman’s health, putting her at risk for both heart disease and stroke.

Women usually have higher HDL ("good") cholesterol levels prior to menopause because estrogen (the female sex hormone) raises this levHigh cholesterol (hyperlipidemia) involves elevated blood cholesterol and/or triglyceride levels.el. Therefore, women are particularly at risk after menopause, when their estrogen levels drop along with their HDL levels, and their LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels increase. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) found that over half of postmenopausal women needed to reduce their total cholesterol levels.

Men and women are also advised to maintain different levels of HDL cholesterol. Whereas men are considered to have low HDL cholesterol at less than 40 mg/dL, women have low HDL cholesterol at less than 50 mg/dL. Both men and women are advised to strive for HDL levels above 60 mg/dL.

Post-menopausal women are advised to be particularly aware of the relationship between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and cardiovascular disease. It was previously thought that replacing lost sex hormones in post-menopausal women would provide the same cardio-protective benefits experienced by women with normal levels of estrogen. However, several major studies have since found that estrogen/progestin therapy increases the risks of heart attack, stroke, breast cancer, blood clots and overall cardiovascular disease.

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a chronic disease in which blood flow is obstructed through the coronary arteries that supply the heart with oxygen-rich blood. This obstruction is caused by a disease known as atherosclerosis, which is sometimes called "hardening of the arteries." An estimated 13.2 million Americans suffer from CAD. Also referred to as coronary heart disease, CAD is the most common form of cardiovascular disease in the United States today.

Atherosclerosis is gradual, often taking decades before the affected person is in danger of cardiovascular problems. First, the inner lining of the artery (e.g., the endothelium) is damaged. This causes white blood cells to gather at the site of the injury. This in turn provokes an inflammatory immune response that causes further damage to the artery wall. Over time, the endothelium is compromised and large, toxic LDL cholesterol molecules can penetrate into the artery wall. The white blood cells and cholesterol combine to form a lipid foam. In the early stages of atherosclerosis, these fatty streaks are present on the arterial wall as plaque deposits. Over time, the plaque may calcify, or form A heart attack happens every 29 seconds and is usually due to coronary artery disease (CAD).a hardened "shell." This reduces the supple artery's ability to contract and expand and narrows the artery, thus reducing the amount of blood that can flow through it. If the plaque deposit ruptures, a blood clot can form at the site of the rupture, or pieces of the plaque can travel through the arteries until they eventually cause a blockage. A heart attack and cardiac arrest may result.

Untreated, CAD usually continues to worsen. Many CAD patients have symptoms such as chest pain (angina) and fatigue, which occur when the heart isn't receiving adequate oxygen. As many as 50 percent of patients, however, have no symptoms until a heart attack occurs.

Strategies to help reduce risk factors for CAD, or slow its progression if it has already begun, include:

* Learning your family medical history
* Eating a heart-healthy diet
* Improving your cholesterol ratio
* Controlling homocysteine levels
* Exercising regularly
* Controlling diabetes
* Controlling high blood pressure
* Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight
* Managing stress
* Quitting smoking (or not starting to smoke)
* Controlling chronic depression

Treatment options for CAD include medication, balloon angioplasty (with or without stenting), atherectomy and bypass surgery.

Fast Food Chains Ditch Trans Fats to Meet NYC Ban

Fast food restaurants have been changing their recipes to adapt to New York City's trans fat ban. Here are some of the menu overhauls at major chains:

-Dunkin Donuts: Quit using partially hydrogenated oil months ago in favor of a trans-fat-free blend of palm, soybean and cottonseed oil.

-Kentucky Fried Chicken: Ditched trans fats from cooking oil immediately, recently removed it from its pot pie and biscuits.

-Pizza Hut: Removed trans fat from the one style of pizza that had it.

-McDonald's: Stopped cooking fries in trans fat last year, and now has it out of cookies and baked apple pie too, at least in New York. The rest of the country will follow.

-Burger King: New York locations no longer use trans fat in fries, apple pie or biscuits, with plans to eliminate them nationwide.

-Boston Market: Testing a trans-fat-free version of its chicken pot pie and cornbread in New York. If all goes well, the recipe change will be expanded nationwide.

Women, Mexican Americans at Higher Risk for Certain Stroke

Mexican Americans and women may have an increased risk of experiencing a stroke in which there is bleeding in the space around the brain, a new study finds.

Researchers, reviewing the medical records of almost 30,000 people over age 44 in southeast Texas, found that Mexican Americans ran nearly twice the risk of a subarachnoid hemorrhage than white people. Women, they found, had a one-and-three-quarters-fold increased risk of having this type of stroke.

Only 107 of the 29,907 people in the study experienced a subarachnoid hemorrhage during the seven-year study period.

A subarachnoid hemorrhage often results from a cerebral aneurysm, a blistering of a blood vessel. Even if caught early, it could kill a person or lead to severe disability. The condition may cause a person to have a severe or "thunderclap" headache. Vomiting, seizures and neck stiffness may accompany the headache.

The findings were published in the June 11 online issue of Neurology.

"Physicians and public health officials should help Mexican Americans and women take steps which might prevent subarachnoid hemorrhage," study author Dr. Lewis B. Morgenstern, director of the University of Michigan Stroke Program in Ann Arbor, said in a prepared statement. "Given that Mexican Americans account for the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States, it is important to examine how this condition may affect certain ethnicities differently."

Tobacco use and hypertension treatment differences among ethnic groups may have played a role in the study's outcome, he said, noting that since the study took place in one geographic area, its results may not hold for other locations.