The New Hypertension Guideline

In November 2017, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) set a new hypertension guideline.

They adopted a blood pressure threshold of 130/80mmHg to diagnose hypertension; lower than the previous 140/90mmHg.

However, they retained the definition of normal BP as average systolic BP [SBP] <120 mm Hg and average diastolic BP [DBP] <80 mm Hg.

What this means is that patients who were previously classified as pre-hypertension can now be diagnosed as having hypertension.
Were you aware of this?