Causes of Hypertension

More than 9 in 10 people with high blood pressure have what is called primary or essential hypertension. This means that it has no single clear cause.

Many factors to do with your lifestyle may contribute to primary hypertension. These include:

• smoking
• obesity
• drinking a lot of alcohol – especially if you binge drink
• lack of exercise
• diet

If someone else in your family has high blood pressure, you also have a higher risk of developing it.

Around 1 in 10 people with high blood pressure have secondary hypertension. This means your doctor can link your high blood pressure to a known cause:

• kidney disease
• endocrine disease (hormone disorders – a hormone is a regulatory chemical that occurs naturally in your body)
• narrowing of the arteries leading to the kidneys, or narrowing of the aorta (the largest artery leading from the heart)

Secondary hypertension can also be caused by:

• steroid medicines
• the contraceptive pill
• pregnancy, which can cause pre-eclampsia – this can be serious and harm your baby

For more information on Hypertension please do not hesitate to get in touch with Dr Deering through our appointments page.

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