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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2006;295:2125-2126.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Patients with blood pressure in the high normal range but below the hypertension threshold are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. So how should physicians treat them?

Current guidelines say that patients with "prehypertension" (systolic blood pressure of 120-139 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure of 80-89 mm Hg) are not candidates for drug therapy but should be "firmly and unambiguously advised to practice lifestyle modification in order to reduce their risk of developing hypertension in the future" (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/jnc7full.pdf).

Now, however, some ambiguity has been introduced.

Researchers are looking at new ways of addressing "prehypertension," defined as blood pressure in the high normal range.

Researchers presenting findings at the American College of Cardiology's annual Scientific Session in Atlanta in March suggested that treatment of prehypertension with candesartan, an angiotensin-receptor blocker, reduced the risk of progression to hypertension in some patients (Julius S et al. N Engl . . . [Full Text of this Article]

PREHYPERTENSION TOOL?