Almost half of all U.S. adults live with high blood pressure. Also called hypertension, high blood pressure is one of the leading modifiable risk factors for conditions that range from heart attack and stroke to dementia.
Finding the best ways to treat and manage hypertension is a crucial task, which can be complicated by the large number of risk factors and co-occurring conditions related to high blood pressure. Now, clinicians have a valuable updated resource for hypertension treatment, with the publication of a comprehensive new set of guidelines on preventing, detecting, evaluating, and managing high blood pressure.
The guidelines are published in JACC, Circulation, and Hypertension.
Updated risk prediction, pregnancy care, and targeted treatment
The set of evidence-based guidelines was compiled by a panel of 28 experts based on the most current hypertension research. It includes a number of significant changes from the prior set of guidelines, published in 2017.
For instance, the guidelines include an improved formula for predicting patients' risk of heart attack, stroke, or heart failure, which will better indicate which people with hypertension would benefit most from treatment.
The new document also details better ways to tailor treatments to each patient-such as by screening patients for a common cause of treatment-resistant hypertension. It also recommends single-pill combinations of multiple medications for people with moderately high blood pressure, which can help make treatment simpler, faster, and more effective.
Many of the new recommendations detail treatment for high blood pressure during pregnancy, which can lead to life-threatening complications and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Tighter control of blood pressure during pregnancy could have lasting health benefits. The new publication also eliminates race-based prescribing.
A lasting impact
Adam Bress, PharmD, professor of population health sciences at University of Utah Health, investigator at the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System, and a member of the writing committee for the guidelines, emphasizes the importance of broad adoption.
"Given how widespread hypertension is, disseminating and implementing these evidence-based recommendations could have a tremendous impact on public health," Bress says. "These guidelines simplify management and, if applied effectively, could help millions of people live healthier, longer lives. I'm especially excited about the new tools and strategies that will help clinicians and patients work together to optimize blood pressure control."
