What is high blood pressure?
High blood pressure (also referred to as HBP, or hypertension) is when your blood pressure, the force of blood flowing through your blood vessels, is consistently too high. Learn more about high blood pressure. High Blood Pressure can cause strokes, vision loss, heart failure, heart attack, sexual dysfunction and kidney disease/failure.
High blood pressure is a “silent killer”
You may not feel that anything is wrong, but high blood pressure could be quietly causing damage that can threaten your health. The best prevention is knowing your numbers and making changes that matter in order to prevent and manage high blood pressure.
Learn more
- Get the high blood pressure fact sheet from the American Heart Association : English (PDF) | Spanish (PDF)
- Check out all the high blood pressure tools and resources available through the American Heart Association.
If you have high blood pressure, you are not alone
- Nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure. (Many don’t even know they have it.)
- The best way to know if you have high blood pressure it is to have your blood pressure checked.
130 is Too High for Blood Pressure
Your risk for heart trouble or stroke is double at 130 compared to when it’s below 120. Visit www.heart.org/hbp to see where you are on the blood pressure category chart.
