Secondary hypertension
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Secondary hypertension (secondary high blood pressure) is high blood pressure that’s caused by another medical condition. Secondary hypertension can be caused by conditions that affect your kidneys, arteries, heart or endocrine system. Secondary hypertension can also occur during pregnancy.
Secondary hypertension differs from the usual type of high blood pressure (primary hypertension or essential hypertension), which is often referred to simply as high blood pressure. Primary hypertension has no clear cause and is thought to be linked to genetics, poor diet, lack of exercise and obesity.
Proper treatment of secondary hypertension can often control both the underlying condition and the high blood pressure, which reduces the risk of serious complications — including heart disease, kidney failure and strokes.
Like primary hypertension, secondary hypertension usually has no specific signs or symptoms, even if your blood pressure has reached dangerously high levels.
If you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure, having any of these signs may mean your condition is secondary hypertension:
If you have a condition that can cause secondary hypertension, you may need your blood pressure checked more frequently. Ask your doctor how often to have your blood pressure checked.
A number of conditions can cause secondary hypertension. These include:
Renovascular hypertension. This type of hypertension is caused by narrowing (stenosis) of one or both arteries leading to your kidneys.
It’s often caused by the same type of fatty plaques that can damage your coronary arteries (atherosclerosis) or a separate condition in which the muscle and fibrous tissues of the renal artery wall thicken and harden into rings (fibromuscular dysplasia). Renovascular hypertension can cause irreversible kidney damage.
Sleep apnea. In this condition, often marked by severe snoring, breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, causing you to not get enough oxygen.
Not getting enough oxygen may damage the lining of the blood vessel walls, which may make your blood vessels less effective in regulating your blood pressure. In addition, sleep apnea causes part of the nervous system to be overactive and release certain chemicals that increase blood pressure.
Obesity. As you gain weight, the amount of blood circulating through your body increases. This puts added pressure on your artery walls, increasing your blood pressure.
Excess weight often is associated with an increase in heart rate and a reduction in the capacity of your blood vessels to transport blood. In addition, fat deposits can release chemicals that raise blood pressure. All of these factors can cause hypertension.
Medications and supplements. Various prescription medications — such as pain relievers, birth control pills, antidepressants and drugs used after organ transplants — can cause or aggravate high blood pressure in some people.
Over-the-counter decongestants and certain herbal supplements, including ginseng, licorice and ephedra (ma huang), may have the same effect. Many illegal drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, also increase blood pressure.
The greatest risk factor for having secondary hypertension is having a medical condition that can cause high blood pressure, such as kidney, artery, heart or endocrine system problems.
Secondary hypertension can worsen the underlying medical condition you have that’s causing your high blood pressure. If you don’t receive treatment, secondary hypertension can also be associated with other medical conditions, such as:
Metabolic syndrome. This syndrome is a cluster of disorders of your body’s metabolism — including increased waist circumference, high triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol), high blood pressure and high insulin levels.
If you have high blood pressure, you’re more likely to have other components of metabolic syndrome. The more components you have, the greater your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or a stroke.
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Secondary hypertension
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