They also face an increased risk of cardiovascular problems, including stroke, heart attacks and heart failure, compared to those who have similar blood pressure levels not caused by excessive aldosterone. Primary aldosteronism is caused by the increased production of aldosterone from the adrenal gland s.

The excessive aldosterone may be produced by a tumour or tumours on the adrenal gland or enlarged adrenal gland or glands. In some cases, the condition can run in the family if caused by a genetic mutation that affects multiple family members.

In some cases adrenal vein sampling, which measures and compares hormones produced by each adrenal gland, is needed. Primary aldosteronism causes more injury to the heart and blood vessels than high blood pressure alone, so early diagnosis is important.

Only one in people with primary aldosteronism are diagnosed because many doctors do not screen for it. Hypertension related to a hormone imbalance is usually treatable and possibly curable with surgery if it involves a tumour or tumours.

In the case of primary aldosteronism, there are medications which specifically block the actions of aldosterone and therefore offer highly effective treatment. If the aldosterone is produced by an adrenal tumour, then the condition may be cured by surgical removal of the affected adrenal gland.

If undiagnosed, primary aldosteronism can lead to higher blood pressure that becomes increasingly difficult to control with medication. This can leave those who have it at risk of strokes, heart attacks at a younger age and in some cases heart and kidney failure.

Others may end up taking numerous ineffective blood pressure medications while still suffering from high blood pressure. If correctly diagnosed, they have a good chance of controlling the condition with appropriate medication or surgery. Endocrine Hypertension.

Steroid Receptor Biology. Hudson Institute scientists cannot provide medical advice. Find out more about endocrine hypertension.

Keep up-to-date with our latest discoveries. Skip to content Home Research Diseases we research Endocrine hypertension. LISTEN TO PODCAST HERE. REMASTER TRIAL — HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. EQUIPPA RESEARCH PROJECT. CONSEP RESEARCH PROJECT. Seeking non-invasive ways to detect hormone-induced high blood pressure.

Hunting a potentially curable cause of high blood pressure. Improving the diagnosis of hormone-related high blood pressure.

Advocating for the timely diagnosis of primary aldosteronism. Signs and symptoms of primary aldosteronism.

Causes of primary aldosteronism. Diagnosis of primary aldosteronism. Treatment of primary aldosteronism. Long term effects of primary aldosteronism. High blood pressure develops in one out of every 12 to 17 pregnancies in the U. Developing high blood pressure during pregnancy can lead to serious health complications for both the mother and baby, but with close monitoring and treatment, a successful, safe pregnancy with hypertension is possible.

Women who have high blood pressure before pregnancy may worry about whether they can safely have a baby. Having high blood pressure prior to pregnancy does increase the risk of pregnancy-related health complications.

If you plan to become pregnant, work with your primary care provider to get your blood pressure levels under control with medication that is safe to use during pregnancy. Make healthy lifestyle changes ahead of time to help keep your blood pressure in check.

Once you become pregnant, your doctor will likely want you to monitor your blood pressure at home and have regular checkups. If your doctor says you have chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension or preeclampsia, following their advice and instructions is the best way to ensure a good outcome.

Keep all of your prenatal appointments and contact your doctor immediately if you develop any symptoms of preeclampsia or if preeclampsia symptoms worsen. Women who develop high blood pressure during pregnancy can still successfully deliver a healthy baby.

Risk factors for high blood pressure during pregnancy include:. High blood pressure that occurs in early pregnancy is usually considered chronic hypertension. Blood pressure levels sometimes decline during the first half of pregnancy, so doctors may closely monitor you at first.

An increase in blood pressure that occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy is called gestational hypertension. Your doctor may diagnose you with hypertension if:.

If you develop gestational hypertension, your doctor will monitor you closely for signs of preeclampsia. High blood pressure that develops during late pregnancy is often diagnosed as preeclampsia. This serious medical condition can impact all of the organs and cause serious damage to the liver and kidneys.

Women who have high blood pressure require close monitoring during labor. You may be given intravenous IV magnesium during labor and for 24 hours after to reduce your risk of seizures due to preeclampsia.

Postpartum preeclampsia is the term for high blood pressure that arises after giving birth. In most cases, women develop the condition within the first 48 hours of giving birth, but it can happen up to six weeks after. Women who undergo a C-section can also develop postpartum preeclampsia.

It may happen within the first 48 hours following the procedure or up to six weeks later. Women with preeclampsia often need to undergo induced labor and have their babies early.

Normally, doctors try to wait until the 37th week of pregnancy for induction. However, earlier delivery may be necessary to prevent health complications.

Almost all women with preeclampsia develop high blood pressure. A paper published in by a researcher at the University of Tennessee describes a woman who developed the condition without an increase in blood pressure, but cases like these are very rare.

For most women, preeclampsia and gestational hypertension resolve within 12 weeks of labor or a C-section. Women diagnosed with chronic hypertension may require ongoing monitoring and treatment for high blood pressure.

Sometimes, in addition to blood pressure medication, anti-seizure medications and blood thinners are necessary for women with postpartum preeclampsia. If you have chronic hypertension, your doctor will likely discuss making healthy lifestyle changes to complement the actions of blood pressure medication.

While you may not be completely able to prevent high blood pressure during pregnancy, following these tips can help to reduce your risk of complications:. Our week Healthy Heart program combines monitoring, diet and exercise optimization and medications as needed to help women lower their blood pressure.

We act as your primary care provider with one-to-one, customized care that takes into consideration the causes of high blood pressure as well as your habits and customs so that the lifestyle changes we recommend fit your life. Then, we employ ongoing support and biometric monitoring to track your progress toward achieving your heart health goals.

Hit enter to search or ESC to close. Mona Kennedy May 31, No Comments. Table of Contents Prevalence of high blood pressure in women What causes high blood pressure in women? What is considered high blood pressure for a woman?

Symptoms of high blood pressure in women Hormonal causes of high blood pressure in women High blood pressure and menstruation Can menopause cause high blood pressure? High blood pressure and pregnancy High blood pressure before pregnancy Dangers of high blood pressure during pregnancy What causes high blood pressure during pregnancy?

High blood pressure symptoms in pregnancy High blood pressure in early pregnancy High blood pressure in mid-pregnancy High blood pressure in late pregnancy High blood pressure during labor High blood pressure after giving birth High blood pressure after a C-section Treating high blood pressure and preeclampsia Can you have preeclampsia without high blood pressure?

High blood pressure after pregnancy How to prevent high blood pressure during pregnancy Forward delivers one-to-one, customized care for women Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U. What causes high blood pressure in women?

Mayo Clinic offers appointments in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota and at Mayo Clinic Health System locations. Blood pressure generally goes up after menopause. Some health care providers think changing hormones related to menopause may cause blood pressure to rise.

Others think an increase in body mass index BMI during menopause may be to blame. Changes in hormones during menopause can lead to weight gain.

The changes also can make blood pressure more sensitive to salt in the diet. When this happens, blood pressure can go up. Some types of hormone therapy for menopause also may lead to higher blood pressure. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health.

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Request Appointment. Menopause and high blood pressure: What's the connection? Products and services. Is there a connection between menopause and high blood pressure? Answer From Rekha Mankad, M. Thank you for subscribing! Sorry something went wrong with your subscription Please, try again in a couple of minutes Retry.

Show references Tikhonoff V, et al. The uncertain effect of menopause on blood pressure. Journal of Human Hypertension. Changes you can make to manage high blood pressure. American Heart Association.

Accessed April 17, Wenger NK, et al. Hypertension across a woman's life cycle. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Lin Y, et al.

Cardiovascular benefits of exercise training in postmenopausal hypertension. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Our providers. Expert endocrinology care Getting the care you need starts with seeing one of our endocrinologists.

View Our Providers. Related services Emergency Medicine. Endocrinology Conditions. High Blood Pressure Hypertension. Primary Care. Many health conditions can cause secondary hypertension.

Several kidney diseases may cause secondary hypertension, including:. Renovascular hypertension. This type of high blood pressure is caused by narrowing stenosis of one or both arteries leading to the kidneys.

Renovascular hypertension is often caused by the same type of fatty plaques that can damage the coronary arteries atherosclerosis or a separate condition in which the muscle and fibrous tissues of the renal artery wall thicken and harden into rings fibromuscular dysplasia.

Medical conditions affecting hormone levels also may cause secondary hypertension. These conditions include:. Sleep apnea. In this condition, often marked by severe snoring, breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, causing a lack of oxygen. Not getting enough oxygen may damage the lining of the blood vessel walls, which may make it harder for the blood vessels to control blood pressure.

Also, sleep apnea causes part of the nervous system to be overactive and release certain chemicals that increase blood pressure. As body weight increases, the amount of blood flowing through the body increases.

This increase in blood flow puts added pressure on artery walls, increasing blood pressure. Being overweight also increases the heart rate and makes it harder for the blood vessels to move blood. In addition, fat deposits can release chemicals that raise blood pressure.

Medications and supplements. Various prescription medications — such as pain relievers, birth control pills, antidepressants and drugs used after organ transplants — can cause or worsen high blood pressure in some people. Some decongestants and herbal supplements, including ginseng, licorice and ephedra ma-huang , may have the same effect.

Many illegal drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, also increase blood pressure. The greatest risk factor for developing secondary hypertension is having a medical condition that can cause high blood pressure, such as kidney, artery, heart or endocrine system problems.

Secondary hypertension can worsen the underlying medical condition that's causing the high blood pressure. Without treatment, secondary hypertension can lead to other health problems, such as:.

Metabolic syndrome. This syndrome is a cluster of disorders of the body's metabolism — including increased waist circumference, high triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein HDL cholesterol the "good" cholesterol , high blood pressure and high insulin levels.

If you have high blood pressure, you're more likely to have other components of metabolic syndrome. The more components you have, the greater your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or stroke. On this page. When to see a doctor. Risk factors. A Book: Mayo Clinic on High Blood Pressure.

For people diagnosed with high blood pressure, having any of these signs may mean the condition is secondary hypertension: High blood pressure that doesn't respond to blood pressure medications resistant hypertension Very high blood pressure — systolic blood pressure over millimeters of mercury mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure over millimeters of mercury mm Hg High blood pressure that no longer responds to medication that previously controlled the blood pressure Sudden-onset high blood pressure before age 30 or after age 55 No family history of high blood pressure No obesity.

Request an appointment. Several kidney diseases may cause secondary hypertension, including: Diabetes complications diabetic nephropathy. Diabetes can damage the kidneys' filtering system, which can lead to high blood pressure.

Polycystic kidney disease. In this inherited condition, cysts in the kidneys interfere with kidney function and can raise blood pressure. Glomerular disease. Kidneys remove waste and sodium using tiny filters called glomeruli.

In glomerular disease, these filters become swollen. This may raise blood pressure. These conditions include: Cushing syndrome.

In this condition, corticosteroid medications may cause secondary hypertension, or hypertension may be caused by a pituitary tumor or other factors that cause the adrenal glands to produce too much of the hormone cortisol. The adrenal glands produce too much of the hormone aldosterone.

This makes the kidneys retain salt and water and lose too much potassium, which raises blood pressure. This rare tumor, usually found in an adrenal gland, produces too much of the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline. Having this tumor can lead to long-term high blood pressure or short-term spikes in blood pressure.