Nash
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/health/blood-pressure-guidelines-hypertension-dementia.html
QT:{{”
For more than 25 years, a reading of 140/90 or below was considered normal, according to the A.H.A./A.C.C. guidelines. But the 2017 update introduced major changes, backed by results from the landmark Sprint trial, which enrolled adults over 50 who were at high cardiovascular risk.
The Sprint trial found that intensive treatment aimed at bringing the systolic number below 120 reduced the risk of heart attacks, strokes, other cardiovascular illnesses and overall mortality so substantially that the investigators stopped the study early.
It was unethical, they decided, to deny half the trial participants the benefits of intensive treatment. The 2017 guidelines, therefore, recommended medication for those with a systolic blood pressure over 130.
The most recent revisions, issued late last year, encourage still tighter control. They call for patients at cardiovascular risk to strive for systolic readings below 120, and they also call that target “reasonable” even for those who are not at high risk. Readings considered normal not so long ago are now defined as hypertension. “}}
linkstream2 microblog 