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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffRisk factors for prehypertension include:
- Being overweight or obese. A primary risk factor is being overweight. The greater your body mass, the more blood you need to supply oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. As the volume of blood circulated through your blood vessels increases, so does the force on your artery walls.
- Age. Younger adults are more likely to have prehypertension than are older adults — probably because most older adults have progressed to high blood pressure. In fact, adults who are healthy at age 55 have a 90 percent chance of developing high blood pressure at some point in their lives, according to the American Heart Association.
- Sex. Prehypertension is more common in men than in women.
- Family history of high blood pressure.
- Sedentary lifestyle.
- Diet high in sodium or low in potassium.
- Tobacco use.
- Excessive alcohol use.
Certain chronic conditions — including high cholesterol, diabetes and sleep apnea — may increase the risk of prehypertension as well.
