Almost Half of Americans Have High Blood Pressure Under New Guidelines

In the first change to blood pressure guidelines in 14 years, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology say that the threshold for high blood pressure should be lower. Under the new guidelines, nearly half of American adults will be considered to have high blood pressure, according to the heart experts who wrote them.

Until now, recommendations have set 140/90 mmHg as the threshold for high blood pressure.