New Multisociety Hypertension Guideline Is Released

The guideline lowers thresholds for categorizing people as having hypertension and for prescribing drug therapy.

Sponsoring Organizations: American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), and nine other organizations

Target Audience: All clinicians

Background

In 2003, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued its last guideline on hypertension (Seventh Joint National Committee [JNC7]; NEJM JW Gen Med Jun 15 2003 and JAMA 2003; 289:2560). In 2014, the JNC8 guideline — written by an expert panel no longer affiliated with NIH — was published (NEJM JW Gen Med Jan 15 2014 and JAMA 2014; 311:507). Now, the ACC and AHA have issued a new guideline, intended to be the U.S. standard of care.

Key Recommendations

Newly defined categories are “elevated blood pressure (BP)” (systolic BP, 120–129 mm Hg and diastolic BP, <80 mm Hg); stage 1 hyp…

Reviewing Author

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose