Hypertension

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Hypertension is generally defined as an elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90 mmHg. Hypertension can be chronic or acute. While 95% of the cases of chronic hypertension are primary, 5% of chronic hypertension is secondary to other underlying causes. Hypertensive crisis is the acute elevation of blood pressure and it can be classified into hypertensive emergency or hypertensive urgency when end organ damage is present or absent respectively.

Classification

For more details about each specific type of hypertension, click on the links in blue in the algorithm below.
In order to distinguish primary hypertension from secondary hypertension, click here.

Hypertension

Chronic hypertension

Hypertensive crisis Acute elevation of blood pressure - Systolic blood pressure >180 mm Hg OR - Diastolic blood pressure >120 mm Hg

Primary hypertension (also known as essential hypertension) (95% of the cases)

Secondary hypertension (5% of the cases)

Hypertensive emergency Evidence of end organ damage

Hypertensive urgency No evidence of end organ damage