New guidelines from the American Heart Association could mean more Americans now have high blood pressure.
Dr. Rae Witt with University of Nebraska Medical Center tells NewsRadio 1110 KFAB that the AHA is moving the goal posts for what's considered a risk for hypertension. The number has now been moved from 140/90 to 130/80. "There was a huge study two years ago called the Sprint Trial that basically showed that targeting a lower blood pressure goal is associated with better outcomes in a lot of people."
Witt says more people will now be diagnosed with high blood pressure as a result of the guideline changes. "A lot of research over the last five to ten years has shown that the risks associated with high blood pressure; stokes, heart attacks, kidney disease, occur at lower blood pressures than we originally thought."
With those lower numbers, Witt hopes that people will begin making lifestyle changes. "The first step is seeing what things can be changed in our natural lifestyles to see how we can improve blood pressure that way."
Witt says reducing your salt and high fat food intake will help, as well as exercising more, and cutting back on smoking and drinking.