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Blood Pressure
Pre-hypertension Increases Heart Attack Risk
A new study finds patients at risk for high blood pressure are also at a much higher risk for heart disease. If you don't have high blood pressure but are not in the normal range either, then you have what doctors call pre-hypertension.
Normal blood pressure is lower than 120/80 millimeters of mercury. Hypertension or high blood pressure is 140/90 millimeters of mercury or higher. The gray area considered pre-hypertension is between 120 and 139 systolic pressure and 80 and 89 diastolic pressure. Doctors generally tell these pre-hypertensive patients to make lifestyle changes including more exercise, losing weight and eating healthier. Researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey say that may not be enough.
Researchers examined data from a separate study and found a pre-hypertensive person is over than three times more likely to have a heart attack and nearly twice as likely to have heart disease than a person with normal blood pressure. Researchers did not find an increase in stroke risk for pre-hypertension patients. Study authors say that might be because only a small number of patients in the study had a stroke.
Researchers say these findings raise the question of whether doctors are treating pre-hypertensive patients aggressively enough. Further studies are needed to see if intervening with this group of patients would result in the anticipated benefits.
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