Hypertension
Hypertension is a major risk factor in atherosclerosis, heart disease, hemorrhagic and nonhemorrhagic stroke, and a principal cause of morbidity and mortality in developed nations throughout the world. In atherosclerosis, hypertension contributes to intimal injury and permeability in the interactive process of lipoprotein uptake and plaque formation. In the etiology of hemorrhagic stroke (excluding ruptured congenital aneurysms), the pathogenesis is likely to be rupture of microaneurysms resulting from arterionecrosis, which is characterized by infiltration into the intima of blood plasma with fibrin deposition, histolysis of the internal elastic lamina, and loss of medial smooth muscle cells.
