What can you do about prehypertension? Healthful eating and exercise are the two biggies. Still, not all doctors are happy with the term “prehypertension.” “Those words, to a patient, say, ‘I don’t have to worry yet,’ ” Antman says. It’s a warning sign and offers a chance to prevent a progression to full-blown hypertension, which requires more-aggressive treatments such as a lifetime prescription for antihypertensive drugs, which can mean a lifetime of side effects.ĭomenic Sica, president of the American Society of Hypertension and an internist at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, says he hopes that “with a diagnosis of prehypertension, people are more likely to change their health behaviors than if their doctor tells them, ‘Do this because it’s good for you.’ ” (There’s an opposite case known as “masked hypertension” - when blood pressure readings are low in the doctor’s office because a patient feels particularly safe and relaxed.)īy givingnear-hypertension the label of prehypertension, doctors hope patients will take this in-between condition more seriously. So a single higher-than-normal reading should not guide treatment decisions.ĭoctors are well aware of a phenomenon called “white coat hypertension” - when blood pressure readings are high in the doctor’s office because a patient is nervous. A 2013 review of studies encompassing more than a million people found that those with prehypertension had a 28 percent increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 41 percent increased risk of dying from stroke compared with people who had normal blood pressure.įor someone going in for a checkup, it’s important to remember that blood pressure readings are not static they change with activity level, time of day and stress level. Since then, researchers have continued to find significant risks associated with borderline high blood pressure.
The label “prehypertension” became official when clinical practice guidelines were updated in 2003. “The higher the blood pressure, the higher the risk.” “It’s important to realize that there’s a continuum of risk,” says Elliott Antman, president of the American Heart Association and a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. And hypertension is very common: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one of every three American adults has the condition.īut the cardiovascular risks don’t suddenly begin at the magic number of 140/90. Hypertension increases your risk for heart attack and stroke, as well as for kidney disease and vision loss. Should you be worried? Is there something you can do now to ward off a later diagnosis of hypertension?
Normal blood pressure is 120/80 or below, and hypertension is defined as 140/90 or higher. Not really high, not hypertension high, but borderline high. Perhaps this has happened to you: You go to the doctor, for a checkup or a sprained ankle, and find that your blood pressure is high.
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