How can high blood pressure increase my risk for heart disease?

With high blood pressure, your heart works extra hard to pump blood through your arteries. Over time, the artery walls can be damaged. High blood pressure can damage the heart, brain, eyes and other organs.

High blood pressure (hypertension) damages the cells lining the coronary vessels, which attracts immune cells that trigger and feed inflammation. It can also be an effect, as well as a cause, of cardiovascular disease. As vessels become stiffened with atherosclerosis, they are less able to dilate in response to the body's demands for an increased blood supply, and blood pressure rises.