How to Defined Hypertension?
Blood pressure is a continuous variable with a skewed normal distribution and without distinct separation between normotensive and hypertensive values.
Therefore an operational definition of hypertension is necessary to identify individuals at risk for cardiovascular disease.
It has been suggested that the best operational definition of hypertension is the level of arterial blood pressure at which the benefits of intervention exceed the risk of no treatment.
More recently, the blood pressure target for treatment has decreased below 140/90 in the presence of other associated cardiovascular risk factors.
There is a growing recognition of the importance of “high normal” blood pressure (systolic blood pressure 130 to 139 and diastolic blood pressure 85 to 89 mm Hg), “prehypertension” (systolic blood pressure 120-139 mm Hg or diastolic of 85-89 mm Hg), and especially, isolated systolic hypertension (isolated systolic hypertension >140 and diastolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg).
How to Defined Hypertension?
