Contents:
- Medical Video: Most Common Factors Affecting High Blood Pressure - Manipal Hospital
- Understand the process of a heart attack
- What is the relationship between high blood pressure and heart attack?
Medical Video: Most Common Factors Affecting High Blood Pressure - Manipal Hospital
Hypertension and its complications are the number five cause of death in Indonesia. The mortality rate due to complications of hypertension related to heart problems is even reported to be higher than the type of complication that targets other organs. Quoting the 2015 Indonesian Renal Registry report, around 49% of people with hypertension have a higher risk of premature death caused by heart disease such as strokes and heart attacks.
The risk of heart attack due to hypertension in particular comes from equally high systolic and diastolic pressures. The higher the number, the higher your risk. Even if you don't have other major risk factors such as diabetes, smoking habits, and high cholesterol, an increased risk of heart attack due to hypertension still haunts you. This means that having hypertension alone without having to be followed by other conditions can still be achieved cause a heart attack. What is the relationship between high blood pressure and heart attack?
Understand the process of a heart attack
Heart attack (myocardial infarction) is a life-threatening condition that occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked. Heart attacks are usually caused by a buildup of fat plaque, cholesterol, and other substances in the coronary vessel wall that provide oxygenated blood supply to the heart muscle. Disturbed blood flow can damage or destroy parts of the heart muscle.
Symptoms of a heart attack can vary from one person to another. The most common are severe chest pain, such as a pressed chest or tight squeeze. The same pain sensation can also be felt on the arm. A heart attack can also cause symptoms of pain or discomfort in your back, neck or jaw. Likewise with nausea, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, or dizziness.
The severity of symptoms felt by everyone can be different. Some are mild, but some are very severe.
What is the relationship between high blood pressure and heart attack?
High blood pressure can force coronary arteries to continue to stretch. Gradually, this additional pressure can weaken the arterial wall, making it more susceptible to the formation of plaques that narrow the vessels further. This condition is called atherosclerosis.
Blood clots also tend to be easier to occur when the vessels harden due to plaque. When blood vessels are blocked by plaque or blood clots, blood flow to the heart muscles will be disrupted. As a result, the heart muscle cannot get enough oxygen and nutrients. When this happens, the heart muscle tissue will start to break down and even die slowly causing a heart attack.
Some cases of heart attack occur spontaneously. But fortunately, most heart attacks begin with typical symptoms that can begin to appear several hours, days, or weeks before the attack appears. The main symptom of heart attack and deserves caution is recurring recurrence of chest pain, which is often triggered by fatigue but improves quickly after resting.
If you suspect you or the person closest to you has experienced the symptoms mentioned earlier, quickly seek medical help even if you are not really sure it is a symptom of a heart attack.
