from American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions and journal Hypertension
High blood pressure affects about one in three
American adults, and raises their risk for heart
disease and stroke. High blood pressure is
defined with a reading of 140/90. However
growing numbers—twenty seven percent‐‐of
high blood pressure patients have been able
to achieve optimal blood pressure readings of
120/80 or less by using medications.
Researchers at the National Center for Health
Statistics say this is definitely good news in the
effort to reduce deaths and hospitalizations
due to heart disease. Not so good news is
that nearly one‐half of the patients with high
blood pressure remain uncontrolled. The
statistics come from interviews with more
than nine thousand adults with high blood
pressure. The research was presented to the
American Heart Association’s Scientific
Sessions and published in the journal
Hypertension.