Kolkata, Nov 4 (UNI) Blood pressure is a measure of the force that the circulating blood exerts on the walls of the main arteries.
The pressure wave transmitted along the arteries with each heartbeat is easily felt as the pulse -- the highest (systolic) pressure is created by the heart contracting and the lowest (diastolic) pressure is measured as the heart fills. Raised blood pressure is almost always without symptoms.
However, elevated blood pressure levels produce a variety of structural changes in the arteries that supply blood to the brain, heart, kidneys and elsewhere.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), in recent decades it has become increasingly clear that the risks of stroke, ischaemic heart disease, renal failure and other disease are not confined to a subset of the population with particularly high levels (hypertension), but rather continue among those with average and even below-average blood pressure.
The main modifiable causes of high blood pressure are diet, especially salt intake, levels of exercise, obesity, and excessive alcohol intake. As a result of the cumulative effects of these factors blood pressure usually rises steadily with age, except in societies in which salt intake is comparatively low, physical activity high and obesity largely absent.
Most adults have blood pressure levels that are suboptimal for health. This is true for both economically developing and developed countries, but in the European subregions blood pressure levels are particularly high.
Across WHO regions, the range between the highest and lowest age-specific mean systolic blood pressure levels is estimated at about 20 mmHg. Globally, these analyses indicate that about 62 per cent of cerebrovascular disease and 49% of ischaemic heart disease are attributable to suboptimal blood pressure (systolic >115 mmHg), with little variation by sex.
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