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(Hypertension. 2006;48:812.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Prehypertension Revisited

From Boston University School of Medicine, Mass.

Correspondence to Aram V. Chobanian, Boston University School of Medicine, 650 Albany St, Boston, MA 02118. E-mail achob@bu.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

The Seventh Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of Hypertension (JNC-7) introduced the term "prehypertension" to designate individuals whose systolic blood pressure (BP) levels are in the range of 120 to 139 mm Hg and diastolic BP between 80 and 89 mm Hg.^1,2 The decision to establish this new BP category was based on a number of factors. Several studies had indicated that BP in most societies increases with age, and in Framingham Heart Study participants, 90% of those whose BP was normal at age 55 years ultimately developed hypertension in their lifetime.³ Furthermore, in recent observational studies in adults between 40 and 80 years of age, the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) increased progressively from levels as low as 115/75 mm Hg upward with a doubling of the incidence of both coronary heart disease and stroke for every 20/10-mm Hg increment of BP.⁴ The prehypertension designation was established to focus attention on a segment of the population who were at higher-than-normal CVD risk and in whom therapeutic approaches to prevent or delay the onset of hypertension would be of value.

As part of its deliberations, the JNC-7 considered whether a diagnosis of prehypertension might have a negative influence on an individual’s employment or insurance status or create undue anxieties in some subjects. The committee also discussed whether dealing with large numbers of prehypertensive individuals might place excessive burdens on clinicians who already were having difficulty managing hypertensive patients or might lead to an excessive use . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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