ATI Pathophysiology Practice Exam

Untreated hypertension, or high blood pressure, can lead to a range of cardiovascular conditions, with heart failure being one of the most significant outcomes. When the heart is subjected to consistently elevated pressure, it works harder to pump blood. Over time, this increased workload can lead to hypertrophy of the heart muscle, particularly the left ventricle, as it attempts to strengthen its contractions to maintain the necessary blood flow.

As the heart muscle thickens, it can lose elasticity and become less efficient at pumping blood. This reduction in efficiency can eventually lead to heart failure, a condition characterized by the heart's inability to pump sufficient blood to meet the body's needs, resulting in symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and fluid retention.

Heart failure is a serious and often progressive condition that can develop as a direct consequence of prolonged hypertension, thereby emphasizing the importance of early and effective management of high blood pressure to prevent such complications.

Other conditions, such as bradycardia, arrhythmia, and myocardial infarction, may have associations with hypertension but are not as directly linked as heart failure in the context of chronic, untreated high blood pressure. Bradycardia typically involves a slower than normal heart rate, which is not a direct outcome of