Hypertension aka high blood pressure has become an all too common term in the African American community. According to the National Institutes of Health, 1 in 3 American adults suffer from this disease. That is roughly 65 million. Many people that suffer from high blood pressure do not notice the symptoms until too late and they have to deal with it the rest of their lives. Hypertension is known as a ‘silent killer’ because there are no early significant symptoms to detect any problems.
According to studies, African Americans develop high blood pressure at an earlier age than their white counterparts. Out of those studies it is indicated that 41% of African Americans have high blood pressure; that’s nearly half of the nation. It could be safe and easy to say that contributing factors such as discriminatory results of the early to mid 20th Century of inequality, and even a Jim Crow Effect are reasons why this disease is a part of the African American community. Considering that would provide an excuse to increased data of hypertension in the African American community, the intrinsic factor for this day and age is the lack of information. As the numbers of African Americans that develop high blood pressure, they also are prone to strokes (brain attack), kidney disease, blindness, dementia and heart disease (heart attack).
This is definitely an issue in Kentucky as many continue to wrestle with obesity. As reported Kentucky was ranked sixth in reports on obesity out of all 50 states.
Now that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is in effect a vehicle to improve the health of Americans, more men and women can pursue healthcare beneficial to themselves and their families. Prescription drugs are more affordable and easily accessible. The same goes for access to doctors. With many parents able to keep their children on their insurance plan until the age of 26, this benefits many children that may fall under the category of genetic risk factors.
Information to indicate risks of high blood pressure can be obtained at various outlet malls and grocery stores such as Kroger and Walmart that have Blood Pressure Machines. When the machine reads the blood pressure, here are the levels to look for: normal (less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic), pre-hypertension (120–139 systolic and/or 80–89 diastolic), stage 1 hypertension (140–159 systolic and/or 90–99 diastolic), and stage 2 hypertension (at least 160 systolic and/or at least 100 diastolic).
Anything above 120 systolic and 80 diastolic indicates that there may be a problem and a need to see a doctor. There are ways to control high blood pressure which are avoidable and that way is by maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. The main controlling factor is watching sodium intake. Too much salt affects the body in adverse ways by reducing the blood flow back to the heart which in turn increases the pressure on the vessel walls. To become more aware of risk factors, the University of Kentucky has a quiz on its website to learn more.
By maintaining a healthy lifestyle such as exercise, keeping a healthy weight and following the prescribed orders from your doctor, high blood pressure will lose its steam and the community will see an increase in longevity among its people.
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