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Shikha Singh [1] and Ravi Shankar [1] and Gyan Prakash Singh [2]

Academic Editor: Tomohiro Katsuya

1, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India, bhu.ac.in

2, Division of Biostatistics, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India, bhu.ac.in

Received Aug 19, 2017; Accepted Nov 8, 2017

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

1. Introduction

Hypertension is a major public health problem due to its high prevalence all around the globe [1–4]. Around 7.5 million deaths or 12.8% of the total of all annual deaths worldwide occur due to high blood pressure [5]. It is predicted to be increased to 1.56 billion adults with hypertension in 2025 [6].

Raised blood pressure is a major risk factor for chronic heart disease, stroke, and coronary heart disease. Elevated BP is positively correlated to the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease. Other than coronary heart disease and stroke, its complications include heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, renal impairment, retinal hemorrhage, and visual impairment [5].

Hypertension (or HTN) or high blood pressure is defined as abnormally high arterial blood pressure. According to the Joint National Committee 7 (JNC7), normal blood pressure is a systolic BP < 120 mmHg and diastolic BP < 80 mm Hg. Hypertension is defined as systolic BP level of ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP level ≥ 90 mmHg. The grey area falling between 120–139 mmHg systolic BP and 80–89 mmHg diastolic BP is defined as “prehypertension” [7, 8]. Although prehypertension is not a medical condition in itself, prehypertensive subjects are at more risk of developing HTN [1].

It is a silent killer as very rarely any symptom can be seen in its early stages until a severe medical crisis takes place like heart attack, stroke, or chronic kidney disease [8–10]. Since people are unaware of excessive blood pressure, it is only through measurements that detection can be done. Although majority of patients with hypertension remain asymptomatic, some people with HTN report headaches, lightheadedness, vertigo, altered vision, or fainting episode [11].

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