Too much pressure

[okarol]

Too much pressure

Los Angeles Times
JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT: 120/80 is considered optimal blood pressure.

By Susan Brink, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 17, 2007

IT'S important for all people to control their blood pressure, but for those with heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and other conditions that raise the risk of heart complications, it's really important.

About 65% of people with hypertension and no complicating conditions who take blood-pressure-lowering medications had the condition controlled to recommended levels, according to a study released online and due for publication in the Dec. 24 Archives of Internal Medicine. But only one-third to one-half of people with hypertension and complicating conditions reached recommended levels despite drug treatment.

Optimal blood pressure, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, is 120/80. The goal for people who have high blood pressure, after treatment with antihypertensive medications, should be below 140/90; people with diabetes, kidney disease or other heart health-compromising conditions should aim for less than 130/80.

"If you've already had a stroke or have diabetes or kidney disease, the risk of heart attack or another stroke is many times higher," says Nathan Wong, director of the UC Irvine Heart Disease Prevention Program and lead author of the study.

Good control, he says, depends in part on better physician monitoring of patients. But patients, too, need to nag their doctors for specific advice on alternative drugs, diet and exercise.

susan.brink@latimes.com