Washington, Nov 14 (PTI) High blood pressure should betreated earlier when it reaches 130/80 mm Hg rather than140/90, according to the first comprehensive high BPguidelines in the US in more than a decade.
The guidelines are being published by the American HeartAssociation (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology(ACC) for detection, prevention, management and treatment ofhigh blood pressure.
Rather than one in three US adults having high bloodpressure (32 per cent) with the previous definition, the newguidelines will result in nearly half of the US adultpopulation (46 per cent) having high BP, or hypertension, AHAsaid in a statement.
However, there will only be a small increase in thenumber of US adults who will require antihypertensivemedication, it said.
High blood pressure is now defined as readings of 130millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) and higher for the systolic BPmeasurement, or readings of 80 and higher for the diastolicmeasurement.
That is a change from the old definition of 140/90 andhigher, reflecting complications that can occur at thoselower numbers.
The new guidelines stress the importance of using propertechnique to measure blood pressure. Blood pressure levelsshould be based on an average of two to three readings on atleast two different occasions, AHA said.
High blood pressure accounts for the second largestnumber of preventable heart disease and stroke deaths, secondonly to smoking, it said.
It is known as the "silent killer" because often thereare no symptoms, despite its role in significantly increasingthe risk for heart disease and stroke.
Paul K Whelton, lead author of the guidelines publishedin the journal Hypertension and the Journal of the AmericanCollege of Cardiology, noted the dangers of blood pressurelevels between 130-139/80-89 mm Hg.
"You have already doubled your risk of cardiovascularcomplications compared to those with a normal level of bloodpressure," Whelton said.
"We want to be straight with people - if you already havea doubling of risk, you need to know about it. It does notmean you need medication, but it is a yellow light that youneed to be lowering your blood pressure, mainly with non-drugapproaches," he said. PTI SARSAR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.