More Americans Have High Blood Pressure

The number of Americans with high blood pressure is on the rise thanks in large part to growing rates of obesity, researchers said on Tuesday.But increasing numbers of those with high blood pressure, also called hypertension, are getting the condition treated, researchers from the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health wrote in the journal Hypertension.

High blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure. It is sometimes called the "silent killer" because it has no symptoms, and many people have it for years without knowing it.Data spanning six years through 2004 showed that 29 percent of U.S. adults had high blood pressure, compared to 24 percent in the six-year period ending in 1994, the researchers said.....more