High Blood Pressure Education Month

May is High Blood Pressure Education Month

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HighBloodPressure/

About 74.5 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension. Learn how to control your blood pressure.

May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month. About 74.5 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension. Hypertension increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States. Researchers estimate that high blood pressure will cost $76.6 billion in direct and indirect costs in 2010.

Blood pressure is written as two numbers. The first (systolic) number represents the pressure when the heart beats. The second (diastolic) number represents the pressure when the heart rests between beats. The following is a classification system for blood pressure:

Normal blood pressure	systolic: less than 120 mmHg and diastolic: less than 80 mmHg
Prehypertension	systolic: 120–139 mmHg or diastolic: 80–89 mmHg
High blood pressure	systolic: 140 mmHg or higher or diastolic: 90 mmHg or higher or taking antihypertensive medication

Blood pressure that is slightly higher than normal is called prehypertension. People with prehypertension are more likely to develop high blood pressure than are people with normal blood pressure levels.

Quick Facts

Who Has High Blood Pressure

• Almost 90% of adults aged 45–64 years will develop high blood pressure during the remainder of their lifetime.
• About 25% of American adults aged 20 years or older have prehypertension.
• One of every three U.S. adults aged 20 years or older have hypertension.
•  Nearly one of five people have hypertension and are not aware that they have it.
• In the United States, high blood pressure is more common among blacks than whites. About 44% of black women have high blood pressure.
• Mexican-Americans have the lowest level of hypertension control compared to non-Hispanic whites and blacks.

Health Impact of High Blood Pressure

• High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.
• High blood pressure was a primary or contributing cause of death for 326,000 Americans in 2006.
• Nearly 45 million people visited their doctor for high blood pressure in 2006.

High Blood Pressure and Salt

• A diet high in sodium (salt) increases the risk for higher blood pressure. About 77% of the sodium Americans consume comes from processed and restaurant foods.

Preventing and Controlling High Blood Pressure

You can maintain healthy blood pressure through changing your lifestyle or by combining lifestyle changes with prescribed medications.

Key lifestyle changes include the following:

• Have your blood pressure checked regularly.
• Maintain a normal body weight (body mass index of 18.5-24.9 which is kilograms divided by height in meters squared).
• Keep up physical activity (2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest,  shoulders, and arms).
• Follow a healthy eating plan of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and low in sodium.
• Quit smoking.
• If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation (≤ 2 drinks per day for men and ≤ 1 drinks per day for women).
• If you have high blood pressure and are prescribed medication(s), take as directed.

The most recent recommendations for detecting and treating high blood pressure are available from the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure of the National Heart and Lung Institutes, National Institutes of Health.

Send an electronic Health-e-Card to someone to remind them to stay healthy.

CDC's High Blood Pressure Efforts

Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program. CDC currently funds the development of effective strategies to prevent and control heart disease, stroke, and related risk factors in 41 states and the District of Columbia. The program emphasizes policy, environmental, and systems changes that promote heart-healthy and stroke-free living and working conditions.

 

More Information

Please see the following additional CDC resources:

• New Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report Finds Population Based Efforts Needed for Prevention and Control of Hypertension
  The IOM outlines the need for a population-based approach to and policy intervention to address hypertension in the United States.
• Application of Lower Sodium Intake Recommendations to Adults—United States, 1999–2006
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, March 27, 2009.
• CDC's Salt Web Site. 
  Reducing sodium intake improves blood pressure and lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke for everyone, even those who have normal blood pressure.
• Prevalence of Actions to Control High Blood Pressure—20 States, 2005
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 4, 2007
• Hypertension-Related Mortality Among Hispanic Subpopulations—United States, 1995–2002.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, February 24, 2006.
• Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Prevalence, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension—United States, 1999–2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, January 14, 2005.
• High Blood Pressure Fact Sheet
• Pulmonary Hypertension Fact Sheet
• State Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program Addresses High Blood Pressure

Please visit CDC's partners for more information about high blood pressure:

• American Heart Association
  • AHA 2010 Statistical Update
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
  • Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure
• Pulmonary Hypertension Association