MED HTN IF OVER 130/80

The new ACC/AHA guidelines — unveiled on Monday at the AHA's annual meeting — define systolic blood pressure at or above 130 mm Hg as constituting hypertension, while the older definition set the threshold at 140 or above. In addition, a diastolic BP of 80 or above is now considered hypertensive, versus 90 or above with JNC 7. On the basis of nationally representative data on roughly 10,000 adults, some 46% of Americans have hypertension under the new guidelines — versus 32% under JNC 7 — according to an analysis in the Journal of the American College of Cardiol