High blood pressure (Hypertension and hypertensive heart disease)

In this context, it is of great importance to explicitly mention hypertension, because it is often described as the “chameleon” of Cardiology. The reason is that hypertension may cause many symptoms, especially when it has caused thickening of the heart muscle (so-called hypertensive heart disease). Here, symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitation, dizziness are commonly reported, mimicking presence of other heart disorders. Moreover, longstanding hypertension predisposes also to strokes and heart attacks.

Therefore, optimal medical control of hypertension is of crucial therapeutic and prognostic importance.