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- Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects around one in every three adults worldwide.
- It is a risk factor for several health conditions, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney damage.
- The American Ηeart Association has recently updated its 2017 guidelines on the prevention and management of hypertension, including new research information for the 2025 guidelines.
- It advises that anyone can develop high blood pressure but that diet and lifestyle modifications can prevent or control the condition for many people.
The American Heart Association (AHA) has recently published revised its guidelines on hypertension. They state that the condition is the leading risk factor for stroke and a number of heart diseases, such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation (AFib).
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that one in three adults, or 1.3 billion people, around the world have hypertension, so preventing, detecting and treating it could prevent 76 million deaths worldwide between now and 2050.
Blood pressure is recorded as systolic, referring to the maximum pressure when the heart contracts, over diastolic — the minimum pressure just before the next contraction. Ideally, it should be 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or below.
The full guidelines, published in the journal Hypertension, aim to help medical practitioners detect and treat hypertension, but also contain valuable advice to help people control and manage their own blood pressure.
Cheng-Han Chen, MD, board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, who was not involved in developing the guidelines, told Medical News Today that:
“The new blood pressure guidelines have several changes that emphasize earlier assessment and intervention of elevated blood pressure. In particular, it affirms the importance of lifestyle changes to help control blood pressure, such as with limiting sodium and alcohol intake, eating a heart healthy diet, maintaining physical activity, and managing weight and stress. This is a welcome message that will hopefully help us manage hypertension before it contributes to more serious cardiovascular disease.”
‘Adults should have blood pressure measured at least once a year’
To update their guidelines, the AHA carried out a comprehensive review of clinical studies, reviews and other evidence about hypertension published since February 2015.
They describe the guidelines as a “living, working document updating current knowledge in the field of high blood pressure aimed at all practicing primary care and specialty clinicians who manage patients with hypertension.”
Daniel W. Jones, MD, FAHA, volunteer chair of the guideline writing committee and a past-president of the AHA (2007-2008), dean and professor emeritus of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson, MS, and a member of the writing committee for the 2017 high blood pressure guideline, told MNT that:
“All adults should have their blood pressure measured at least once a year, more often for patients with any level of high blood pressure. Patients with high blood pressure who have a reading above 180/120 mmHg should seek advice from their clinician, urgently if there are symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, paralysis or speech difficulty.”
New AHA hypertension guidelines: 5 key points
As part of the update, the AHA has also published a summary for patients of the top 10 things that people should know about high blood pressure.
Jones highlighted the key updates for 2025, which include:
- the goal of achieving a systolic blood pressure of 130 mmHg or below, and ideally of 120 mmHg, for adults with high blood pressure
- more clear and robust evidence that intensive lowering of blood pressure reduces the risk of cognitive decline and dementia
- “in adults with an average blood pressure of 130/80 mm Hg [or more], and at lower 10-year cardiovascular disease risk defined by the PREVENT risk calculator of
