Copyright
©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Blood pressure goals: A moving target
Nitin Thinda, Steven Tringali, Jian Huang, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco-Fresno Medical Education Program, Fresno, CA 93701, United States
Jian Huang, Department of Medicine Service, VA Central California Health Care System, Fresno, CA 93703, United States
Author contributions: All the authors contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jian Huang, FACP, MD, Professor, Staff Physician, Department of Medicine Service, VA Central California Health Care System, 2615 E Clinton Ave, Fresno, CA 93703, United States. jian.huang@va.gov
Telephone: +1-559-2256100 Fax: +1-559-2416484
Received: August 1, 2018
Peer-review started: August 1, 2018
First decision: August 20, 2018
Revised: August 25, 2018
Accepted: October 12, 2018
Article in press: October 13, 2018
Published online: October 21, 2018
Peer-review started: August 1, 2018
First decision: August 20, 2018
Revised: August 25, 2018
Accepted: October 12, 2018
Article in press: October 13, 2018
Published online: October 21, 2018
Core Tip
Core tip: The most recent 2017 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guideline redefines hypertension as blood pressure (BP) ≥ 130/80 mmHg. It recommends initiation of pharmacotherapy for all adults with BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg and for patients with BP ≥ 130/80 mmHg who are ≥ 65, have diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease (CVD), or a 10-year CVD risk of ≥ 10%. Although optimal BP varies individually, it seems reasonable to recommend a BP goal of < 130/80 mmHg, and age/risk-stratified pharmacotherapy threshold. More clinical data are needed to further individualize BP goals for elderly patients and those with certain co-morbidities or multiple cardiovascular risks.