On November 13, the “Chinese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Hypertension“, jointly developed by the National Cardiovascular Center and other academic institutions, was officially promulgated.
Among them, the diagnostic criteria for hypertension was adjusted downward from 140/90 mmHg to 130/80 mmHg.
According to the new diagnostic criteria, it is estimated that the number of hypertensive patients in China will increase from 245 million to nearly 500 million, which is equivalent to about one-third of the population.
Hypertension can occur as a result of genetic, disease, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
Among them, lifestyle factors include lack of exercise, heavy alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and so on.
Previously, the U.S. lowered the diagnostic criteria for hypertension to 130/80 mmHg, which is often considered “pre-hypertension”.
Past studies have shown that this group is at significantly increased risk for cardiovascular disease, but often without timely intervention.
In 2017, the United States lowered the diagnostic criteria for hypertension to between 130/80 mmHg.
Now, the diagnostic criteria for hypertension in China has been lowered to include people between 130 and 140 mmHg in the hypertension category
This may allow more people to pay attention to blood pressure from an early stage, get more timely intervention, and prompt people to adjust their habits in terms of diet and work and rest.