Lesson 6 - Dangers and Complications

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Enlarged heart (thickened left ventricle or left ventricular hypertrophy): You know by now that high blood pressure causes the heart to work harder. Over time, this causes the left ventricle to thicken and stretch, becoming bigger and less effective. Eventually, the heart may fail to function normally, causing fluids to back up in the lungs, along with a variety of other complications. This is known as "congestive heart failure." Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) can also increase the risk for irregular heart rhythms, inadequate blood flow to the heart muscle, and sudden death. Thankfully, hypertensive LVH can resolve with anti-hypertensive medications.

Heart attack: As uncontrolled high blood pressure takes its toll on the blood vessels, the coronary arteries which supply the heart muscle with oxygenated blood can be damaged just like any other artery. This means that the blood flow to the heart muscle can be dangerously decreased, thereby causing a heart attack.

Kidney damage: The kidney acts as a filter to rid the body of wastes. Over a number of years, high blood pressure can narrow and thicken the blood vessels of the kidney. The kidneys are unable to filter as much fluid as your body needs them to, and waste builds up in the blood. To make matters worse, the kidneys may fail altogether. When this happens, medical treatment (dialysis) or a kidney transplant may be needed.

High blood pressure causes 30% of all cases of kidney failure — a rate second only to kidney failure brought on by diabetes. High blood pressure causes more than 15,000 new cases of ESRD (end-stage renal disease) in the United States each year. It is important to note, however, that the thickening and narrowing of kidney blood vessels can be diminished by careful blood pressure control.

Not only are African-Americans more susceptible to high blood pressure, they are more susceptible to develop kidney problems related to high blood pressure. These complications can accompany even minor blood pressure elevations. In fact, African-Americans ages 24 to 44 are 20 times more likely to develop hypertension-related kidney failure than White-Americans are.

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