NEW HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE NORM: 130/80 OR LESS

Doctors in India have been asked to revise the target value of blood pressure to 130/80 or lower instead of the current 140/90, in tune with the new American and European guidelines.

Blood pressure higher than 130/80 will be now a "warning signal" of impending disease progression and complication of hypertension, says Dr Venkata S Ram of Hydrabad's Apollo Hospital, who is a founder member of the American Society of Hypertension.

The Indian hypertension guidelines, published in 2013 in the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, define blood pressure levels between 130139/80-89 as "high normal," 120-129/below 80 as "normal," and below 120/below 80 as "optimal."

These guidelines have prompted some doctors to view readings slightly below 140/90 -- for instance, 137/88, as acceptable.

"This needs to change, the goal should be 130/80 or below," says Dr Ram, who has argued in a commentary published on Sunday in the Indian Heart Journal, that 130/80 should be the "nonnegotiable" therapeutic goal for Indians. He said given huge burden of untreated or poorly treated case of hypertension in India, these guidelines are much more relevant here.

A panel of US experts converged on 130/80 as a common treatment goal in November 2017 and European specialists followed suit in June 2018. Cardiologists say the 130/80 target would dramatically increase the number of patients who would need to control their blood pressure level. They, however, stress that not all patients need to start drug treatment. They said patients should be first recommended diet control, weight loss, reduction of salt, exercise, and the cessation of smoking, as studies have established that lifestyle changes can lower blood pressure by six to ten points. They said the blood pressure readings need to be taken with care, and repeated for reliability.