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Hypertensive heart disease refers to coronary artery disease, heart failure, and enlargement of the heart that occur because of high blood pressure.

Hypertensive heart disease is heart disease caused by chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension. High blood pressure increases the workload put on your heart. Over time, your heart muscle thickens and your left ventricle becomes enlarged, a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). LVH puts you at high risk to suffer heart attack, stroke, or death.

Hypertensive heart disease can come in the form of congestive heart failure (your heart does not get enough oxygen and cannot pump as much blood to your body), worsened atherosclerosis (cholesterol and fatty deposits in your blood vessels) as high blood pressure thickens artery walls, or ischemic heart disease (decreased blood to the heart, causing chest pain and heart attack). Hypertensive heart disease can cause chest pain, irregular heart rate, heart attack, stroke and even sudden death.

High blood pressure increases the pressure in blood vessels. As the heart pumps against this pressure, it must work harder. Over time, this causes the heart muscle to thicken and the left ventricle to become enlarged. The amount of blood pumped by the heart each minute (cardiac output) goes down. Without treatment, symptoms of congestive heart failure may develop.

High blood pressure is the most common risk factor for heart disease and stroke. It can cause ischemic heart disease from the increased supply of oxygen needed by the thicker heart muscle.

High blood pressure also contributes to thickening of the blood vessel walls. This may worsen atherosclerosis (increased cholesterol deposits in the blood vessels). This also increases the risk of heart attacks and stroke.

Hypertensive heart disease is the leading cause of illness and death from high blood pressure.

The heart complications that develop determine the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and outlook of hypertensive heart disease.

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