Benign hypertension is a term used to distinguish the condition from the more acute and severe malignant hypertension

Malignant hypertension

Malignant hypertension or hypertensive emergency is severe hypertension with acute impairment of an organ system and the possibility of irreversible organ-damage...

. It is a condition of mild to moderate hypertension

Hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...

. It may be progressing at a very slow pace, and so any damage being caused may take many years to develop.

Malignant hypertension is far less common than general "benign" hypertension. As a result, the effects of the latter on public health are considerably larger.