Treating high blood pressure can decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease

Saturday 6th June 2009: HCFI New Delhi: Hypertension accounts for 35 percent of heart attacks and strokes, 49 percent of episodes of heart failure, and 24 percent of premature deaths, said Dr KK Aggarwal President, Heart Care Foundation of India and Director, IMA AKN Sinha Institute.
High blood pressure is diagnosed when systolic blood pressure (SBP) is ¡Ý140 mmHg, or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is ¡Ý90 mmHg, on two or more visits over a period of several       weeks.

Goals for blood pressure are lower for patients with known diabetes  or      heart disease. ¯

There is clear evidence that treatment of high blood pressure can decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Thus, the benefits of screening for, and treating, high blood pressure in adults substantially outweigh the harms.

The 2007 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines recommend screening every two years for persons with systolic BP and diastolic BP below 120 mmHg and 80 mmHg, respectively, and yearly for persons with Systolic BP 120 to 139 mmHg or Diastolic BP 80 to 89 mmHg.

The risk of developing hypertension in patients who do not have hypertension is not uniform, being higher in pre hypertension than with normal blood pressure and in patients with other risk factors for hypertension.