After years of delay and many twists and turns, the hypertension guideline originally commissioned by the NIH has now finally been published in JAMA. The evidence-based document contains a major revision of hypertension treatment targets and includes new and somewhat simplified recommendations for drug treatment.
The previous US hypertension guideline was published more than a decade ago. After many delays the new guideline was ready for publication earlier this year, but then the NIH decided to get out of the guidelines business. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology assumed responsibility for the development and publication of cardiovascular guidelines and last month published four new cardiovascular guidelines, with the notable exception of the hypertension guideline. As an accompanying JAMA editorial explains: “Rather than go through an additional review process with the AHA and the ACC the authors decided to publish their guideline in JAMA on their own.”
The big headline of the new guideline is an important change in treatment targets.
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Original illustration by Max Husten
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