It could be time to dump the word ‘hypertension’
21st July 2015
Researchers have suggested a new reason why so many patients have poorly controlled hypertension: they don’t understand the meaning of the word.
Writing in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, Barbara Bokhour and Nancy Kressin of Boston University School of Public Health say the term hypertension is a prime example of medical jargon being misinterpreted by lay people.
In everyday language, the word tension is most associated with emotional distress, leading people to think that