Borderline high blood pressure tied to deaths

By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Blood pressure readings above the ideal but below the formal definition of "high" still raise a person's risk of death from stroke and heart disease and should be addressed, according to a new study. After analyzing results from 20 previous studies that included more than one million men and women, researchers calculated that 15 percent of deaths from stroke and 11 percent of heart disease deaths would be avoided if so-called prehypertension were eliminated. "Our findings reaffirm the importance of the definition of prehypertension for individuals with blood pressure between 120-139/80-89 mm Hg - rather than being considered 'normal,'" Dr. Dingli Xu, who led the study, told Reuters Health by email. "For people with blood pressure in this range, we advise periodic health screening, as well as smoking cessation, increased physical activity and proper body weight," Xu said.



via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/borderline-high-blood-pressure-tied-deaths-170941141.html