Asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases in the world, and it is also recognized as a potential risk factor for high blood pressure (BP).
The link between asthma and BP has been widely recognized for many years. A study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine in 2007 found that people with asthma are almost three times more likely to have high BP than people without asthma. In another study published inDiabetes Care in 2008, researchers found that individuals who had both asthma and diabetes were approximately four times more likely to have high BP than those who only had diabetes.
There are a few possible explanations for this link between asthma and high BP. First, people with asthma are often prescribed medications that can cause hypertension. Second, people with asthma may experience changes in their blood pressure due to airway constriction or reductions in oxygenation. Third, people with asthma may be more likely to develop chronic kidney disease, which can lead to elevated BP.n
Despite these findings, it is still unclear exactly how asthma and BP affect each other. More research is needed to clarify the connection between these two conditions and determine the best ways to manage them both.
Blood pressure and its common causes
The question whether asthma causes high blood pressure would be clearer when we understand what the common causes are. As things generally look probably the answer could be both in the negative and affirmative. The most causes for high blood pressure or hypertension could be the heart beating more faster than it actually does, the narrowing of the arteries causing force in the blood flow, or the volume of blood being more than the normal volume of blood in the human body.
All these conditions cause increased pressure of the blood on the walls of the artery.It is worth knowing that increase in age along with other serious and non-serious medical conditions like chronic kidney disease, thyroid disease, and sleep apnea and certain medicines like those used in asthma and some cold relief methods, birth control pills and hormone therapy could cause hypertension. Children below the age of 10 could have hypertension due to kidney disease while those above 10 could have it due to other reasons like stress and other reasons that most adults also experience. It is best to know how asthma causes high blood pressure.
How does asthma cause high blood pressure
The most commonly prescribed drugs for asthma are the metered dose inhaler that most of us are familiar with if you have a person suffering from asthma in your family. It is also to be realized by one and all that the use of these metered dose inhalers work in targeting beta receptor molecules only and in giving short term relief only. So, their use could produce cheat tightness and difficulty in breathing within a few days and they prove ideal only for sudden and minor attacks of asthma.
In addition, the answer to how does asthma cause high blood pressure goes on to further indicate to us that these beta receptor molecules only line the passages for respiration. Then these receptors get stimulated with medicines that help to expand the respiratory passages and thereby giving relief from the symptoms of asthma. Next it is important to note that the beta-receptors that most of us use familiarly used in the control of asthma symptoms also play a vital role in controlling the diameter of the blood vessels. As they work, they also decrease the diameter of the blood vessels.
This could cause hypertension or high blood pressure that requires the use of beta- blockers that are most commonly used for nullifying the effect of beta-receptors and dilating the vessels and bringing down high blood pressure. But here there is a controversy, as some contend that if beta agonist asthma medications that are used in MDIs are used to directly expose the blood vessels the amount of constriction in the blood vessels were comparatively very small.
It is true, as beta agonists used in MDIs like albuterol remain only in the lungs with only small amounts in the blood vessels and their effect also fades away quickly. Also, certain long-acting drugs like fenoterol and salmeterol are also sometimes used, and they work for a longer time in the lungs though they are unfriendly with the beta-receptors found on blood vessels. So, it makes for some sensible conclusions that asthma medications could affect blood pressure if they stimulate beta-receptor activity that influences the rise in blood pressure.
So, the answer to does asthma cause high blood pressure lies in accepting the fact that many asthmatics have blood pressure, but it is also true that certain blood pressure medications could also aggravate asthma attacks. The solution only lay in developing effective treatments that could balance the treatment of both the conditions namely, asthma and hypertension or high blood pressure.