Systemic Hypertension has no obvious symptoms of its own and may not be recognized until complications arise. Both high diastolic and systolic blood pressure are associated with increased risk of strokes, heart attacks (myocardial infarction, involving the death of some heart muscle tissue), atherosclerosis (the buildup of fatty plaque on the inner walls of arteries), kidney failure, and cerebral hemorrhage (bleeding from an artery into the brain's tissues).

Systemic Hypertension is the primary cause of left ventricle enlargement and congestive heart failure (in which the heart is unable to pump blood adequately) in adults. The left ventricle (the heart's main pumping chamber) becomes enlarged (hypertrophic) as it pumps harder to move blood through the arteries to the body tissues. Over time, Systemic Hypertension may cause damage to the arteries, resulting in arterial disease.