Blood pressure Newer blood pressure target values ​​are in fact the previous values

New blood pressure targets?
So far, a target blood pressure of less than 140/90 mmHg applied - according to the motto "one fits all". Now the German Hypertension League e.V. DHL® has revised this recommendation as a result of the SPRINT study: With immediate effect, a blood pressure target of less than 135/85 mmHg should be aimed at cardiovascular risk patients. For the others, the previous target area remains.

High blood pressure increases the risk of heart failure. (Image: think4photop / fotolia.com)

Just two years after the publication of the American SPRINT study, the German Hypertension League (HPV), the German Society for Hypertension and Prevention, is adhering to moderate targets and emphasizes the need for accurate measurements.

The background: The American SPRINT study in 2015 found that reducing blood pressure to an upper systolic target below 120 mmHg better protects people with high blood pressure from heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and cardiovascular death than their preferred target of less than 140 mmHg. However, these study results only apply to certain patients: for people at high cardiovascular risk but without diabetes mellitus.

Professional societies in Canada, Australia and Austria as well as the ISH (International Society of Hypertension) recommend a more intensive blood pressure reduction since the publication of the SPRINT data. DHL® has not fully adhered to these recommendations in its current opinion. Due to the expanded data according to SPRINT and related publications and meta-analyzes, DHL® continues to recommend a general target value of less than 140/90 mmHg. The most important treatment goal for all doctors must be to achieve this blood pressure target.

Only in the case of cardiovascular risk patients analogous to SPRINT should a value of less than 135/85 mmHg be sought, according to the "Recommendations 2017". This applies to patients with cardiovascular pre-existing conditions other than stroke, aged 75 or older, with chronic kidney disease CKD 3 and high vascular vascular risk (≥ 15 percent according to the Framingham Risk Score)..

The current opinion of the German high-pressure league thematizes also the blood pressure measurement. In the SPRINT study, an unconventional way of measuring blood pressure - the automated blood pressure measurement - was used. It was used to measure values ​​in the SPRINT study that, according to DHL®, can not be compared one to one with conventionally measured values. The "Recommendations 2017" of the German High Pressure League refer in their data to the conventional practice blood pressure measurement.