Sage-Tips

Can you have hypertension at 18?

While high blood pressure is most common in adults, teens can have it too.

Can I live a long life with hypertension?

If left untreated, a blood pressure of 180/120 or higher results in an 80\% chance of death within one year, with an average survival rate of ten months. Prolonged, untreated high blood pressure can also lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, and kidney disease.

How many years can live with hypertension?

Men with normal pressure could expect to live 5.1 years longer than those with hypertension, the study found; women could plan on another 4.9 years of life. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world and high blood pressure is one of the most important risk factors for this disease.

Can a teenager have hypertension?

Using the updated 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Clinical Practice Guideline , a CDC study shows that about 1 in 25 youth ages 12 to 19 have hypertension, and 1 in 10 has elevated blood pressure (previously called “prehypertension”). High blood pressure is more common in youth with obesity.

Is hypertension inevitable with age?

Aging also plays a role. Even if you do not have hypertension by age 55 to 65, your lifetime risk for developing it is a whopping 90 percent. “But doctors no longer consider hypertension inevitable or untreatable with age,” says Samuel Durso, M.D. , director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins.

What is hypertension and how is it diagnosed?

Hypertension is diagnosed when blood pressure consistently measures >130 mmHg systolic and >80 mmHg diastolic. Blood pressure is measured using a blood pressure cuff, which is a non-invasive device that can detect the pressure inside your arteries, conveying numerical values using a sphygmomanometer or an electronic device.

How does blood pressure affect life expectancy in adults?

Compared with hypertensives, total life expectancy was 5.1 and 4.9 years longer for normotensive men and women, respectively. Increased blood pressure in adulthood is associated with large reductions in life expectancy and more years lived with cardiovascular disease.

What happens when your blood pressure is too high?

But when your resting blood pressure level rises too high, it can scar, stiffen and/or weaken blood vessels.