High Blood Pressure, also known as hypertension, is a medical condition in which the blood pressure is chronically elevated. Hypertension can be classified either primary or secondary. Primary high blood pressure indicates that no specific medical cause can be found to explain a patient's condition. Secondary hypertension indicates that the high blood pressure is a result of another condition, such as kidney disease or tumors. Persistent high blood pressure is one of the risk factors for strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and arterial aneurysm, and is a leading cause of chronic renal failure.
Even moderate elevation of arterial blood pressure leads to shortened life expectancy. At severely high pressures, defined as mean arterial pressures 50% or more above average, a person can expect to live no more than a few years unless appropriately treated.
