THE DEFINITION for high blood pressure, according to Professor Rainford Wilks, director, Epidemiology Research Unit, TMRI, University of the West Inides, has been a moving target.
However, health professionals now accept that persons are hypertensive if the blood pressure is at or more than 140/90 though less than 10 years ago, they were accepting 160/95.
"I like to use the definition... the 'point at which treatment does more good than harm' because for a long time we knew that the higher the blood pressure the worse you were and it is a continuum (continuous variable) so any cut you make will be arbitrary and that decision is going to be a combination of benefits based on the prognosis of not treating and to treating with minimum side effect to people's lifestyle including libido to lethargy to having to pass urine too often," he explained.
Recent studies have also shown significant risks associated with the so-called borderline hypertension and in the presence of some other diseases, Professor Wilks says that the criteria has even changed a little bit. So for person with diabetes, the criteria are now 130/80, and persons who already have some renal damage, the nephrologist are now using 120/75 as the cut off point for blood pressure.
"So in the presence of other factors which are going to damage blood vessels such as your diabetes, high cholesterol/high lipids, the general recommendation is that you be more aggressive in approach, and there is evidence to support that, " he said.
