There is a lot of confusion among people as to whether hypertension is the same thing as high blood pressure or not.  You might be surprised to learn that they are one and the same, it is simply a different way of naming the disease.  High blood pressure is certainly something that you should be familiar with and understand the dangers that are involved with it.  Why is this the case?  Because up to 50% of the population has high blood pressure and almost none of them know it.  Since it doesn’t have any noticeable symptoms, it is branded as the silent killer.