Diabetes Dateline

NHLBI Announces New Treatment Guidelines for High Blood Pressure

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has issued new clinical practice guidelines for the prevention, detection, and treatment of high blood pressure. NHLBI's target of less than 130/80 for people with diabetes and chronic kidney disease is in line with the current recommendations of the American Diabetes Association, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Diabetes Education Program, and the National Kidney Disease Education Program.

These NHLBI guidelines, titled The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7), released in spring 2003, establish a new "prehypertension" category, a classification that applies to about 45 million Americans whose blood pressure is between 120–139 over 80–89 mmHg. Experts hope that highlighting this stage of abnormal blood pressure will prompt those at risk to take action early, thereby preventing damage to the arteries. The report also includes new definitions of other blood pressure categories, as well as other recommendations for using medications and suggestions on setting goals and creating treatment plans with patients.

Information about the guidelines, along with a slide show, patient education brochures, and other related materials can be viewed online at www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/index.htm.

NIH Publication No. 04–4562
May 2004