In a community, about 7 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women aged 40 to 49 have high blood pressure; and in older age groups the proportion increases. The more overweight you are the more likely you are to have high blood pressure.
The higher the blood pressure, the harder the heart has to work to overcome the increased resistance of the arteries to the flow of blood through them. Over the years, unless you are treated, the muscle wall of the heart thickens and the coronary blood-vessels cannot supply sufficient blood to it. If this happens, you may develop heart failure. The high blood pressure may affect the smaller arteries of your body as the blood pounds along their inner surface, day in, day out. It may hasten the onset of atherosclerosis, the hardening and thickening of the arteries which, if it affects your coronary arteries, may cause a heart attack, or if this occurs in the brain, may lead to a stroke.
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