High blood pressure (hypertension) occurs when too much force is applied to blood vessel walls by the blood that the heart pumps around the body. It is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Sadly, high blood pressure is quite common. In fact, one in three Australian adults has high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is known as a “silent killer” because people who have it often experience no symptoms. This is a huge cause for concern as high blood pressure can damage the arteries over the long-term and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes and heart failure.
Help fight this “silent killer”
At the Heart Research Institute, our world-leading scientists perform groundbreaking cardiovascular research to prevent death and suffering from cardiovascular diseases.
Our innovative research includes projects investigating:
- how the brain controls breathing and blood pressure, and what goes wrong in the brain to result in the development of cardiovascular disease
- the causes and progression of high blood pressure during pregnancy (preeclampsia), the leading cause of stillbirths and newborn deaths in Australia and a disease that doubles a woman’s risk of heart disease and stroke later in life
- novel techniques for detecting high blood pressure in the lungs, also known as pulmonary vascular disease – a very severe condition affecting young adults and (more so) older people.
Your support could help save the lives of the thousands of people living with high blood pressure and at greater risk of cardiovascular disease.
Make a life-saving difference to thousands of people
