Types of High Blood Pressure
By Mark Stibich, Ph.D., About.com Guide
Updated: February 19, 2007



Types of Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)

* Essential Hypertension is the most common type. There is no specific and underlying cause for essential hypertension. Lifestyle factors and other risk factors all increase a person's chance of getting essential hypertension.

* Secondary Hypertension is caused by another health condition such as diabetes, kidney problems or tumors. Once the other condition is controlled, blood pressure usually returns to normal.

* White Coat Hypertension is caused by a person's anxiety or stress levels being very high. Some people getanxious each time they see the doctor and have blood pressure readings higher than normal.

* Isolated Systolic Hypertension is hypertension in which only the systolic (upper) reading is high. This occurs in people over age 65 and is caused by a hardening of the arteries.

* Labile Hypertension is when a person's blood pressure changes often. These changes can be caused by emotions or stress.

* Malignant hypertension is a rare form of hypertension that is an emergency situation. Symptoms set in very quickly and there is a risk of seizures, stroke of even death.


Source: http://longevity.about.com/od/types/a/types.htm