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In this Policy Medical article, you'll learn about:

• The new BP categories

" This classification is based on office pressures – average BP measured in a healthcare setting – and differs from the previous recommendation of JNC 7 in that stage 1 hypertension is now classified as a systolic BP (SBP) of 130-139 mmHg or a diastolic BP (DBP) of 80-89 mmHg and stage 2 hypertension now corresponds to what were stages 1 and 2 in JNC 7. "

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• How high blood pressure is affecting the US population

" With the new guidelines for categorizing BP, 46% of US adults are now classified as hypertensive compared with 32% using JNC 7."

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• The correlation between high BP and medical treatment

" Therefore, the new guideline results in only a small increase in the percentage of adults for whom antihypertensive medication along with lifestyle modification is recommended and as such, will not greatly impact medication prescribing practices. "