Cape Girardeau doctor praises new blood pressure guidelines
CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - More adults in the United States are now living with High Blood Pressure because the American Heart Association has changed the guidelines for the condition which now includes roughly half of all adults in the U.S.
The new numbers that are now considered high blood pressure is a top reading of at least 130 or a bottom of 80.
This used to be called pre-hypertension and the high blood pressure reading was 140 over 90.
Meantime, a doctor at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau said this should be a wake-up for some folks.
"It doesn't mean that there's gonna be a huge emphasis on people that are gonna be on drugs," said Dr. Duc Nguyen. "I think the key emphasis is that you need to do what you can to lower your blood pressure and the key to doing that is reducing your risk factors."
Nguyen also gave tips to lower those risk factors.
They include eating healthier, limiting alcohol consumption, eliminating smoking, and exercising regularly.
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