1. Brain:
- Cerebrovascular accident (strokes).
- Hypertensive encephalopathy: confusion, headache, convulsion.
- Dementia. Dementia is a brain disease resulting in problems with thinking, speaking, reasoning, memory, vision and movement.
- Transient ischemic attack (TIA). Sometimes called a ministroke, a transient ischemic.
2. Blood:
- Elevated sugar levels.
- High triglycerides.
- Low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol.
- Atherosclerosis: Hardening and thickening of the arteries, this can lead to a heart attack, stroke or other complications.
3. Retina of eye:
- Hypertensive retinopathy: This can result in vision loss.
- Fluid buildup under the retina Choroidopathy: can result in distorted vision or in some cases scarring that impairs vision.
4. Heart:
- Myocardial infection (heart attack).
- Hypertensive nephropathy: heart failure.
- Angina.
- Heart diseases.
- Enlarged left heart. High blood pressure forces your heart to work harder than necessary in order to pump blood to the rest of your body. This causes the left ventricle to thicken or stiffen (left ventricular hypertrophy). These changes limit the ventricle's ability to pump blood to your body. This condition increases your risk of heart attack, heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
5. Kidney:
- Hypertensive nephropathy: chronic renal failure.
- Kidney scarring (glomerulosclerosis) is a type of kidney damage; Glomerulosclerosis can leave your kidneys unable to filter waste effectively, leading to kidney failure.
6. Coronary arteries:
- Aortic dissection and atherosclerosis: hardening and thickening of the arteries, this can lead to a heart attack, stroke…
- Aneurysm: Increased blood pressure can cause your blood vessels to weaken and bulge, forming an aneurysm. If an aneurysm ruptures, it can be life-threatening. Aneurysms can form in any artery throughout your body, but they're most common in your body's largest artery (aorta).
7. Sexual dysfunction:
- For some men: erectile dysfunction.
- For some women: this leads to a decrease in sexual desire or arousal, vaginal dryness, or difficulty achieving orgasm.
8. Other areas of the body
- Osteoporosis: High blood pressure can increase the amount of calcium that's in your urine. That excessive elimination of calcium may lead to osteoporosis, which in turn can lead to broken bones. The risk is especially increased in older women.
- Trouble sleeping. Obstructive sleep apnea a condition in which your throat muscles relax causing you to snore loudly, occurs in more than half of those with high blood pressure. It's now thought that high blood pressure itself may help trigger sleep apnea. Also, sleep deprivation resulting from sleep apnea can raise your blood pressure.