New Hypertension Guidelines: What’s Changed and What VHAN Members Need to Know

Earlier this year, the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and other organizations published new hypertension guidelines. Notable updates include:

• Use the Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease EVENTs (PREVENT) risk calculator to estimate 10-year risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in place of Pooled Cohort Equations.
• Treat hypertension through lifestyle modifications and/or medication when average blood pressure is higher than 130/80.
• Start medication when blood pressure is higher than 140/90 (regardless of risk); higher than 130/80 plus comorbidities (diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, coronary heart disease, stroke or heart failure); or higher than 130/80 along with a PREVENT score great than 7.5%.

• Single-pill, fixed-dose combination medication is preferred over two pills for improved adherence and reduced time to control.
• Urine-albumin creatinine ratio screening is recommended for all patients with hypertension.

VHAN members have access to hypertension patient education resources on the VHAN Hub Resource Library. Access self-measured blood pressure materials, instructional guides and more here.