Age

Evidence from numerous studies has shown that age and sex are closely related to developing
prehypertension, Khanam et al (2015). Reported that increasing age is closely related to developing both
pre-hypertension and hypertension.

However, In many countries across the world, hypertension is becoming increasingly more
prevalent among pediatric age group in an alarming manner especially with the increasing number of
obesity cases, this might be related to the changes in lifestyle practices associated with the accelerated
socioeconomic growth such as lack of physical activity and unhealthy diet that is commonly seen among
today’s younger generations (Lee,2014).

A cross sectional study was done in Nigeria among adolescents aged 10-19years in secondary
schools, around 6.3% of the student were hypertensive with 5.0% falling meeting the criteria for
prehypertension, the researchers concluded that adolescents who are apparently healthy can be
hypertensive and stressed the need for hypertension screening among this age group (Elias, 2018).

In a study by Baig et al., 7.5% of the students had hypertension where 2.6% had systolic and 6.3%
had diastolic hypertension. On the other hand, there is a very high prevalence of hypertension among
adults. However, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension is very low. Risk factors for
hypertension includes being unable to read and write, lack of fruits in the diet, being physically inactive,
being overweight and absence of physical inactivity (Gebrihet et al., 2017). In the United States, half of
the adults who are older than 18 experiences prehypertension or hypertension (WebMD, 2019).

Alcohol Intake

Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with elevated blood pressure which further leads to
hypertension. In the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study, a national cohort on
racial differences stated that heavy alcohol consumption is significantly associated with systolic blood
pressure and a higher prevalence of hypertension. This study also found out that the association of alcohol
consumption and hypertension is stronger among diabetic individuals (Bazzano et al., 2013).

Consumption of less than 30g of alcohol a day or approximately two drinks for men and less than
15g of alcohol or approximately one drink for women do not generally increase blood pressure. However,
larger intake of alcohol has a dose-related effect on blood pressure. Use of tobacco or cigarette smoking
is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease which increases blood pressure (Collier and Landram, 2012).

The exact mechanism by which alcohol harms the body is still unclear, alcohol diffuses widely
throughout the body and causes decrease in myocardial contractility and can affect heart rhythm,
resulting in cardiovascular problem one suggested mechanism is that alcohol causes an increase
sympathetic nervous system activation and release of sympathetic amines after alcohol intake (Husain
et al, 2014).
 Alcohol abuse for more than 10 years was proven to cause alcohol-induced heart damage, 23–
47% of acquired cardiomyopathy (particularly the dilated type) were found to be associated with
excessive alcohol intake in several countries and increased levels of morbidity and mortality (Fernández-
solà, 2015).

REFERENCES

Baig, M., Gazzaz, Z. J., Gari, M. A., Al-Attallah, H. G., Al-Jedaani, K. S., Mesawa, A. T. A., & Al-Hazmi, A. A.
(2015). Prevalence of obesity and hypertension among University students’ and their knowledge and
attitude towards risk factors of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Pakistan
Journal of Medical Sciences, 31(4), 816–820. https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.314.7953
Bazzano, L. A., Green, T., Harrison, T. N., & Reynolds, K. (2013). Dietary approaches to prevent
hypertension. Current Hypertension Reports, 15(6), 694–702. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-013-
0390-z
Collier, S. R., & Landram, M. J. (2012). Treatment of prehypertension: Lifestyle and/or medication.
Vascular Health and Risk Management, 8(1), 613–619. https://doi.org/10.2147/VHRM.S29138
Elias, E. C., Chukwuka, J. O., Ebenebe, J. C., Igwe, W. C., & Ifeoma, E. (2018). Hypertension and
prehypertension among adolescents attending secondary schools in urban area of south-east,
nigeria. The Pan African Medical Journal, 31 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/-
pamj.2018.31.145.15994

Fernández-solà, J. (2015). Cardiovascular risks and benefits of moderate and heavy alcohol
consumption. Nature Reviews.Cardiology, 12(10), 576-587.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2015.91

Gebrihet, T. A., Mesgna, K. H., Gebregiorgis, Y. S., Kahsay, A. B., Weldehaweria, N. B., & Weldu, M. G.
(2017). Awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension is low among adults in Aksum town,
northern Ethiopia: A sequential quantitative-qualitative study. PLoS ONE, 12(5), 1–16.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176904
Husain, K., Ansari, R. A., & Ferder, L. (2014). Alcohol-induced hypertension: Mechanism and prevention.
World Journal of Cardiology, 6(5), 245. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v6.i5.245

Khanam, M. A., Lindeboom, W., Razzaque, A., Niessen, L., & Milton, A. H. (2015). Prevalence and
determinants of pre-hypertension and hypertension among the adults in rural Bangladesh: findings
from a community-based study. BMC Public Health, 15(1). doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-1520-0

Lee, C. G. (2014). The emerging epidemic of hypertension in asian children and adolescents. Current
Hypertension Reports, 16(12), 1-495. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11906-014-0495-z