Hello Team,
Please find my attached PDF where I have described a definition of “Hypertension”. If you have any questions/concerns, please let me know.
Kindly,
Amol Chahal
Definition Assignment 1.3
Objective
• Appreciate the importance and role of definitions in technical writing
• Understand how audience and purpose indicate the need for definition
• Differentiate between the levels of details in definition
• Select the right level of detail according to the situation
Definitions
Parenthetical Definition:
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a risk factor for a lot of other diseases.
Sentence Definition:
• Hypertension is a cardiovascular disease involving increased blood pressure. It is a
common disease that affects a huge portion of the population with increasing prevalence
in advanced age group. People who are overweight, have sedentary lifestyle, or smoke
are at increased risk of experiencing hypertension.
Expanded Definition:
• Hypertension is a combination of two words – hyper and tension. It does not mean
psychological or mental tension; it more specifically refers to blood pressure. It occurs
when there is an elevated force of blood pushing on the blood vessels. There are various
reasons why it can happen – increased blood sugar levels, age, not exercising, being
obese, bad diet, etc.
• It can lead to various other complications overtime which can worsen one’s overall health
outcomes. For example, people who consistently have high blood pressure can
experience worsening kidney function or heart function. Their kidney may not work
properly, leading to worsening hypertension in turn; body systems are a connected loop
of interdependencies. Their heart may also have other issues, such as, heart failure,
where one’s heart is not able to pump blood properly leading to less blood flowing
through the body. Another common potential outcome from having high blood pressure
could be a heart attack or stroke, where a blood clot forms and causes blockage of a
blood vessel. When this happens, one may not get blood supply to part of their body
causing that body part to die. This is essentially what happens during a heart attack
where a part of heart muscle does not get blood supply.
• Since hypertension seems to be a leading cause of many other complications, one of the
best things one can do to take care of their health is to keep it under control. Other than
some pharmaceuticals drugs, there are many non-drug ways to keep blood pressure
under control. For example, just exercising and reducing the amount of salt in diet could
significantly reduce one’s blood pressure. Keeping a close eye on one’s blood pressure
is beneficial because it can silently affect other parts of the body and one may not be
even aware of the ramifications.
Citations:
• Kotchen, Theodore A. “Historical trends and milestones in hypertension research: a
model of the process of translational research.” Hypertension 58.4 (2011): 522-538.
• Laragh, Brenner-Hypertension, and Barry M. Brenner. Pathophysiology, Diagnosis and
Management. New York: Raven Press, 1995.
• Esunge, P. M. “From blood pressure to hypertension: the history of research.” Journal of
the Royal Society of Medicine 84.10 (1991): 621.
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