If Australia, in line with the recently revised United States guidelines, lowers the measure of hypertension, it will cause 4.5 million Australians to be newly diagnosed with hypertension and double the proportion of adults classified as having high blood pressure.
A new essay found that changing Australia's hypertension standard from the current 140mHg systolic and diastolic blood pressure 90mmHg to 130/80mmHg (adopted in the United States last year) could increase awareness of this key health indicator, but could also lead to an increase in drug treatment.
According to the Heart Foundation (Heart Foundation), about six million and eighteen Australians over the age of six million and eighteen have high blood pressure under current measures.
"by American standards, if half of the adult population is measured to have high blood pressure, that means we do have social problems," said Jennings (Garry Jennings) of the University of Sydney, co-author of the essay. The essay was published Monday in the Australian Medical Journal.
However, Professor Jennings, executive director of the, Sydney Health Partners and chief medical adviser to the Heart Foundation and senior director of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, said the official threshold should not be lowered at this stage, and the Australian authorities should wait for the impact of changes in the United States.
After the change, about 31 million people in the United States were diagnosed with high blood pressure, and the proportion of adults classified as at risk rose from 31.9 percent to 45.6 percent.
"according to the guidelines, most of these people will receive change lifestyle advice rather than medication, but many have received hypotension treatment and they need stronger medication because they are not meeting new goals." Essay said.
The changes in the guidelines of the American Heart Association and the American Cardiology Society represent the first major update since 2003, developed in collaboration with nine other professional health organizations and written by 21 scientists and experts. A review of more than 900 published studies is given.
However, some health professionals and groups, including the American Institute of Family Physicians, have refused to approve the new guidelines, and their concerns include inadequate assessment of injuries.
Stavlesky (Bill Stavreski), general manager of Heart Health and Research at the Australian Heart Foundation, said lowering the standard of high blood pressure to the same level as in the United States could also lead to normalization of blood pressure.
"We don't know what the result might be. People might say, 'everybody has high blood pressure, so what's the big deal?'" Stavlesky said.
While the essay recommends no change, Professor Jennings said Australia needs to know more about blood pressure.
Despite a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, about 70 percent of people who currently have blood pressure above the 140 / 90 mmHg threshold do not know they have high blood pressure, according to the report.
Professor Jennings advises them to lower their blood pressure through change lifestyle, exercise, and reduced salt and sugar in their diet.