Culture and Disease Paper

University of Phoenix

Culture and Disease Paper

HCS/245

Culture and Disease Paper

Hypertension or HBP (high blood pressure) is a disease that can affect people of all ethnic groups, sex, race, and religious backgrounds. According to WebMD (2009) “the number one cause of death correlated with high blood pressure is hypertensive heart disease and in fact is a group of illnesses that include left ventricular hypertrophy (excessive thickening of the heart muscle), ischemic heart disease, and heart failure.” In this paper the subject to discuss is hypertension in African Americans and unfolding the factors of hypertension that make African Americans particular at risk to this disease.

Hypertension

Hypertension is known as high blood pressure. The blood pressure is the strength of blood pushing alongside the walls of arteries as it circulates through them. Arteries are known as the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the tissues within the body. Hypertension is different from the normal emotional tension, but a short-term increase in an individual’s blood pressure caused by stress can lead to hypertension as well. MedicineNet.com states, “A normal blood pressure reading should be below 120/80; any reading among 120/80 and 139/89 is considered pre-hypertension, and a blood pressure reading of 140/90 or greater is measured as high.” According to The American Heart Association, hypertension affects about one in three adults in the United States, which are roughly around 73 million people. The Journal of the American Medical Association states many adolescents are not properly diagnosed with hypertension and the disease will affect approximately two million adolescents in the U.S. People who have developed hypertension could have had the disease for...