The New Blood Pressure Target in Primary Care
16/02/2023
Less than 10 years ago, in 2014, JNC 8 recommended target blood pressure (BP) for individuals under 60 to be < 140/90, and for those older than 60, < 150/90.
In 2017 the American Heart Association's hypertension guidelines lowered the target BP to < 130/80 for most individuals.
Now the AAFP has updated its recommendations and they recommend a BP < 140/90. This is not a small change, as it often takes additional medication to achieve lower BP targets, and additional medicines lead to additional adverse effects.
The key to their recommendations is that target BPs lower than 140/90 did not show a statistically significant decrease in total mortality.
To read the whole recommendation, go to Blood Pressure Targets in Adults With Hypertension: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians)