TY - JOUR
T1 - Treating prehypertension
T2 - Medically sound and economically viable
AU - Kiely, Amanda Elisabeth
AU - Kwatra, Shawn Gaurav
AU - Kwatra, Madan Mohan
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr M.M. Kwatra is supported by grants from the National Institute of Health and the American Diabetes Association.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The 7th Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure provided new guide-lines for the definition and management of hypertension. Notably, a new category"prehypertension" was created for intermediate systolic pressures exceeding 120 mmHg, the upper limit of normal, but less than 139 mmHg, the threshold for stage 1 hypertension. The therapeutic consequences of this new classification are not yet clear, but research indicates that prehypertension is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular, cognitive, and renal morbidities as well as diabetes, and statistical data indicate that prehypertension is present in over 30% of US, European, and Asian adults. However, while pharmacotherapy is recommended for hypertension, the use of drugs to control prehypertension is under question. Given the serious health consequences linked with prehypertension, such debates seem misplaced if patient well-being is our priority. While acknowledging the lack of specific randomized controlled trial data on this topic, we suggest that anti-hypertensive therapy be recommended for everyone with prehypertension and address resulting cost-benefit issues.
AB - The 7th Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure provided new guide-lines for the definition and management of hypertension. Notably, a new category"prehypertension" was created for intermediate systolic pressures exceeding 120 mmHg, the upper limit of normal, but less than 139 mmHg, the threshold for stage 1 hypertension. The therapeutic consequences of this new classification are not yet clear, but research indicates that prehypertension is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular, cognitive, and renal morbidities as well as diabetes, and statistical data indicate that prehypertension is present in over 30% of US, European, and Asian adults. However, while pharmacotherapy is recommended for hypertension, the use of drugs to control prehypertension is under question. Given the serious health consequences linked with prehypertension, such debates seem misplaced if patient well-being is our priority. While acknowledging the lack of specific randomized controlled trial data on this topic, we suggest that anti-hypertensive therapy be recommended for everyone with prehypertension and address resulting cost-benefit issues.
KW - Cognition and prehypertension
KW - Complications of prehypertension
KW - Diabetes
KW - Incidence of prehypertension
KW - Pharmacotherapy
KW - Prehypertension
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U2 - 10.3109/08037050903444024
DO - 10.3109/08037050903444024
M3 - Review article
C2 - 19958077
AN - SCOPUS:73649099512
SN - 0803-7051
VL - 18
SP - 300
EP - 303
JO - Blood Pressure
JF - Blood Pressure
IS - 6
ER -