What are the effects of lowering blood pressure targets?

In 2017, the AHA recommended lowering blood pressure thresholds and treating people at risk more intensively.Now, two new studies — both of which featured at the AHA's Scientific Sessions 2019, which takes place in Philadelphia, PA — have investigated the costs and benefits of treating hypertension more intensively, and of tailoring treatment according to degrees of cardiovascular risk.Dr. Muthiah Vaduganathan, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an associate physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital — both in Boston, MA — is the lead author of the first study.Dr. Vaduganathan and team used data from the well-known Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT).The SPRINT examined the effects of lowering systolic blood pressure readings to a target of 120 milligrams of mercury (mm Hg) instead of the usual 140 mm Hg.The trial followed 9,361 participants, all of whom were over the age of 50 and at high cardiovascular risk. "These data reinforce that tighter blood pressure control, especially when started earlier in life, may meaningfully prolong lifespan."The second study examined the best way to implement the new blood pressure guidelines issued by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the AHA.These new guidelines lowered blood pressure thresholds to define hypertension as anything from 130/80 mm Hg to 140/90 mm Hg.The new guidelines also recommend medication treatment for people with a blood pressure reading of 130/80 mm Hg to 139/89 mm Hg if they have a history of heart attack or stroke, or if they have a high 10 year risk of experiencing such an event.Joanne M.