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These changes increase the risk of:

• Heart disease such as heart attacks (myocardial infarction, or the death of heart muscle)
• Heart failure (failure to pump enough blood to your body’s tissues and organs to meet their needs)
• Stroke
• Kidney failure
• Peripheral vascular disease (any abnormal condition arising in the blood vessels outside the heart)

The risk of complications increases along with increase in blood pressure, i.e. there is not an abrupt cut-off point above which complications appear. Treatment and follow-up recommendations will depend on factors such as the severity of the hypertension and whether other organs, such as the kidneys, have been affected by it. Organ damage can occur if systolic, diastolic or both blood pressures are high.

Hypertension can damage blood vessels that supply blood to the light-sensitive lining of the back of the eye (the retina). This damage, retinopathy, can lead to vision loss or blindness if untreated.

Hypertension doesn't have to be deadly. It's easy to diagnose and once you know you have it, it can be controlled. Many experts believe that improved detection, treatment and control of hypertension is a major reason why there has been a 50% decrease in death due to heart disease and a 57% decrease in death caused by stroke in America in the last 20 years.

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