60 percent at risk for high blood pressure

As many as 60 percent of American adults have hypertension or are borderline under revised thresholds for high blood pressure, new studies find.

One study by Chicago researchers, published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, reported that 58.2 percent of adults in a 1999-2000 government survey either suffered from high blood pressure or were prehypertensive under guidelines set last year.

Another study in the same journal — conducted by New Jersey researchers — estimated that as many as two-thirds of people ages 45 to 64 and 80 percent of those from 65 to 74 might have prehypertension or residual hypertension, with a systolic blood pressure of 140 millimeters of mercury or higher despite treatment.

A third analysis — of patients 20 and older — by researchers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 60 percent were beyond or near the borderline for high blood pressure.

High blood pressure affects about 50 million Americans and contributes to more than 250,000 deaths each year. Researchers think that only about one-third of people with high blood pressure have it controlled by medication.

“Prehypertension is a significant health problem and requires treatment with diet, exercise and smoking cessation,” said Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which funded the New Jersey team.

Blood pressure is recorded with the systolic pressure of the contracted heart over the diastolic pressure of the relaxed heart. High blood pressure is considered to be present when the numbers are 140/90 or higher. Both numbers affect health, but the systolic pressure is considered a more significant risk factor.