Hypertension-FAQ.com

Some Hypertension Guidelines

The National Institutes of Health released new hypertension guidelines that changed the definition of some categories. Persons whose blood pressure fell on the borderline high will find that in the new hypertension guidelines, their blood pressure now belongs to the pre-hypertension range. The normal range was lowered to 119/79 mm Hg or below.

The old hypertension guidelines used the following classification: optimal, 120/80 mm Hg or below; normal, 129/84 mm Hg or below; borderline, 130–139/85–89 mm Hg; and high, 140/90 mm Hg. Health experts have modified these in the new hypertension guidelines and came up with this classification: normal, 119/79 mm Hg or below; pre-hypertension, 120–130/80–89 mm Hg; high, 140–90 mm Hg or above.

The new hypertension guidelines include new key points such as the following.

You are pre-hypertensive if your blood pressure falls on the range of 120–139/80–89 mm Hg. This means you should start modifying your lifestyle to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. You should start losing weight, exercising, eating healthy foods, and avoiding too much salt. The hypertension guidelines also recommend that you stop smoking and drinking too much alcohol.

The risk of heart disease and stroke starts to increase when your blood pressure reaches 115/75 mm Hg. Based on the hypertension guidelines, the risk gets doubled each time your blood pressure shots up by 20 mm Hg systolic and 10 mm Hg diastolic.

According to the hypertension guidelines, the risk for hypertension during one’s lifetime is greater than previously believed, and 90% of the population at age 55 or above may eventually develop it.

For persons more than 50 years old, systolic blood pressure of more than 140 mm Hg presents an increased risk for heart disease and stroke than the diastolic blood pressure.

The hypertension guidelines recommend that people taking medication for hypertension should take thiazide-type diuretic whether on its own or alongside another medication.

These hypertension guidelines provide helpful points that help us monitor our own health with regard to blood pressure and hypertension.