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Wednesday 15 November 2017

New blood pressure range means half of Americans have hypertension!

"Tighter blood pressure guidelines from U.S. heart organizations mean millions more people need to make lifestyle changes, or start taking medication, in order to avoid cardiovascular problems.

Americans with blood pressure of 130/80 or higher should be treated, down from the previous trigger of 140/90, according to new guidelines announced on Monday by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.

At the new cutoff, around 46 percent, or more than 103 million, of American adults are considered to have high blood pressure, compared with an estimated 72 million under the previous guidelines in place since 2003.

Potentially deadly high blood pressure can be brought under control with a wide array of medications, many sold as relatively inexpensive generics. The drug classes include angiotensin receptor blockers, such as Novartis AG’s Diovan, calcium channel blockers, like Pfizer Incs’s Norvasc, ACE inhibitors, including Pfizer’s Altace, and diuretics, such as Merck & Co Inc’s Hyzaar."


More on this latest article here.

It seems to me, the holy grail of big pharma, is to have everyone on pharma drugs from the cradle to the grave. Not selling enough drugs? pay the boffins to move the goal posts. I wonder if the President of the American Heart Association, who had a heart attack on Monday, used BP control drugs. If he was, I bet the drug pushers will keep very quiet on that subject.

Eddie

6 comments:

Tom said...

...great news.

Debbie said...

i am surprised at the new guidelines. as a nurse and as a patient!!!

baili said...

oh this is not good.
i think problem is rising equally throughout the world .

Conniecrafter said...

I felt the same way that they just lowered it to get more people to take drugs, hopefully many will try to change their lifestyle so that don't have to be on them. I did not hear that they president of the heart association had a heart attack

RO said...

When I saw this on the news the other day, I was shocked. As a person with severe uncontrolled hypertension since I was 17, (I take 9 pills a day to keep it low) I wondered how it would affect others. Lots of people walk around every day with really critical hypertension and don't even know it until visiting a hospital for a checkup or experiencing a stroke. Thanks for posting this as a reminder! Hugs...RO

Phil Slade said...

Again, good information Eddie. I saw the end of a TV slot this week where a man was on 30 anti-depressants a day thanks to doctors continuing to prescribe. Eventually of course he became very ill rather than any better.