In Brief
High Blood Pressure, the “Silent Killer, Now Under Control By Half of Americans
For most patients, high blood pressure is a medical problem over which they have a great deal of control.
Cutting salt in their diets is one of the most important ways. Exercise is second. Medication is the third.
It, and the problems which follow hypertension which is not controlled, include heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.
About half of the 65 million people in the United States who have high blood pressure now have it under control, up from 27 percent two decades ago, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
“But the overall rate of Americans who have high blood pressure has not changed in recent years, reflecting the need for better prevention efforts, they wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.”
Source: Reuters, May 26, 2010
