High blood pressure: Common, commonly uncontrolled, and dangerous
10 steps for fighting the good fight against high blood pressure
It's been more than a century since a Russian surgeon first described the simple and precise way to measure blood pressure that is still in use. We've learned a lot since then about what influences blood pressure and about how high blood pressure can wreak havoc throughout the body. What we haven't managed to do is get the public, and a fair number of doctors, to take high blood pressure seriously. Nearly two-thirds of the 65 million American adults with high blood pressure don't have it under control. That's a big problem, because it's a major cause of stroke, heart attack, heart and kidney failure, and early death.