Keeping people within U.S. blood pressure guidelines saves lives
The benefits of taking medication for hypertension outweigh the risks of the drug’s side effects
The first estimate of how many deaths and heart problems could be avoided under new blood pressure guidelines shows it’s well worth it for the U.S. population to get its blood pressure under control, researchers say.
The new guidelines, announced in 2017 by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, redefined hypertension as a blood pressure reading of 130/80 or higher (SN: 12/9/17, p.13). The previous threshold was 140/90. As a result, 105 million U.S. adults age 20 and older are now considered to have hypertension, 31 million more than before.