Does Prehypertension Lead To Full-Blown Hypertension?

— -- Question: If I have prehypertension, will I eventually get full-blown hypertension?

Answer: People with prehypertension or kind of the lower levels of high blood pressure are at increased risk of developing full-blown hypertension so to speak. Usually high blood pressure does not develop all of a sudden at really high levels. Generally it develops early in life between age 20 and age 40, at lower levels of elevation, and over time as the risk factors that we have for high blood pressure continue to mount and have their effect in our body, gradually the blood pressure goes higher and higher. So yes, if you have pre-hypertension which is a blood pressure somewhere between 120/80 and 140/90, you are at increased risk of developing full-blown hypertension in the long term.