{"id":10942,"date":"2016-02-06T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=10942"},"modified":"2016-02-05T23:53:47","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T05:53:47","slug":"older-healthy-adults-with-systolic-bp-below-140-have-lower-stroke-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2016\/02\/06\/older-healthy-adults-with-systolic-bp-below-140-have-lower-stroke-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Older, Healthy Adults with systolic BP below 140 have Lower Stroke Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanDallas, TX<\/strong> – Raising the systolic blood pressure<\/a> threshold from 140 to 150 mmHg, as a new target for high blood pressure treatment in older people who don\u2019t have chronic kidney disease or diabetes, could put this population at greater stroke risk, according to new research in the American Heart Association\u2019s journal Hypertension<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The increased stroke risk is even more pronounced among Hispanics and blacks, the research showed.<\/p>\n

\"Blood<\/a>

Blood pressure cuff. (American Heart Association)<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2014, panel members appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee, known as the JNC 8, published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em> recommending treatment of high blood pressure in people 60 years and older whose systolic pressure \u2013 the top number in a blood pressure reading \u2013 was 150.<\/p>\n

The paper, however, was not an official guideline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started this analysis very soon after [the JAMA<\/em> paper] came out \u2026 because we were concerned about the recommendation\u2019s potential effect on stroke prevention,\u201d said study author Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., professor and chair of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

Sacco and colleagues from University of Miami and Columbia University studied 1,750 people ages 60 years and older, who were free of stroke, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.<\/p>\n

Researchers measured participants\u2019 systolic blood pressure at the study\u2019s start and noted during an average 13 years if any of those patients had strokes. Among those studied, 63 percent were women, 48 percent were Hispanic, 25 percent white, and 25 percent black. Forty-three percent of participants had systolic readings of less than 140 mmHg; 20 percent were between 140 and 149 mmHg; and 37 percent had systolic pressures of 150 mmHg and higher.<\/p>\n

They found:<\/strong><\/p>\n