Epidemiological clinical characterization of arterial hypertension

Introduction: arterial hypertension is among the main causes of premature death worldwide, and is the main risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases.Objective: to characterize arterial hypertension clinically and epidemiologically.Method: a review of the available bibliography in databases such as SciELO, Scopus and ClinicalKey was carried out, of which a total of 17 related articles were consulted, empirical methods such as logical history and analysis and synthesis were used.Results: arterial hypertension damages most organs and systems in the body, mainly affecting the heart. For arterial hypertension to develop, 2 basic elements occur: arterial dysfunction and the breakdown of balance between vasoconstrictor factors (mainly endothelins) and vasodilators. It is a chronic disorder with asymptomatic characteristics, which silently causes lesions in the heart, blood vessels, kidneys and brain, the level of risk varies according to age and the predisposing factor, among them. Arterial hypertension is considered a risk factor for developing diseases. It is of great importance to establish educational spaces for raising awareness of the continuous practice of a healthy lifestyle.Conclusions: Arterial hypertension manifests itself as a common and increasing disease, which occurs more frequently in older people, which has multiple risk factors associated with lifestyle, being at the same time a risk factor for suffering from numerous diseases.