Nearly 50 million Americans have high blood pressure. Older women are particularly likely to develop high blood pressure. More than half of all women over age 60 have it. Others who are at a high risk of developing it are African Americans, the overweight, those with a family history of high blood pressure, and those with a high-normal blood pressure. Blood is pumped by the heart through vessels to bring oxygen and nutrients to the body.
Blood pressure is the force of the blood against the vessel walls.
The more the pressure, the harder the heart is working. Blood pressure often goes up and down during the day. When it goes up and stays high, then it is high blood pressure. The medical term is hypertension. An easy test measures blood pressure.