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Q Can you explain the new guidelines that indicate if you are in danger of having high blood pressure? Until I heard the recent report, I always thought that if you had a reading of 120/80 then, according to old standards, your blood pressure was perfect. What are the new numbers used to determine whether we are hypertensive?

J.G., New York City

A Under new guidelines, doctors say nearly 50 million Americans who thought their blood pressure was normal actually have what they now call "prehypertension."

With the new standards, any reading under 120/80 is considered normal. For years, the 120/80 figure was the target range, but with the changes implemented by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's National High Blood Pressure Education Program, anything between 120/80 and 139/89 is now considered "prehypertensive. Any reading between 139/89 and 159/99 is considered to be "stage 1 hypertension." And anything topping 160/100 is "stage 2 hypertension."

It's estimated that 60 million Americans have high blood pressure, a major contributor to cardiovascular disease--the No. 1 killer of men and women.

There are several classes of drugs that are used to treat hypertension, but according to some doctors, African-Americans have better results with diuretics and calcium blockers.

# posted by Medical Information : 2:09 AM