Prehypertension Is Linked to Higher Risk for Stroke

“Currently, the best treatment advice for prehypertension remains at the level of consensus expert opinion,” stated Dr. Towfighi, from the Division of Stroke and Critical Care, Department of Neurology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Dr. Kelley, of the Stroke Program, Shawnee Mission Medical Center, Kansas. “The European Society of Cardiology/European Society of Hypertension Task Force acknowledged that any definition of hypertension based on cutoff values is arbitrary. They argued the goal of treatment should be related to quantification of total (or global) cardiovascular risk. Similarly, a scientific statement from three councils of the American Heart Association recommended basing individual treatment on the Framingham Risk Score. The statement suggested a blood pressure goal of less than 130/80 mm Hg for all patients with a 10-year coronary heart disease risk of 10% or more, which includes many patients with the upper range of prehypertension. The use of personalized risk stratification should become increasingly feasible as American physicians adopt electronic medical records.”