Consensus statement lowers BP goals in blacks to manage hypertension

An updated consensus statement on the management of hypertension among African Americans places significant emphasis on a comprehensive assessment and appropriate risk stratification of individual patients with hypertension, stated a report published online October 4 in Hypertension, HealthDay News reported.

John M. Flack, MD, of Wayne State University, and colleagues reviewed new data on hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and treatment guidelines, pharmacological hypertension clinical end-point trials, and blood pressure (BP)-lowering trials in blacks to update the consensus statement of the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks originally published in 2003. In the new statement, researchers divided African American patients with hypertension into primary (no evidence of end-organ damage, preclinical CVD, or CVD) and secondary (evidence of end-organ damage, preclinical CVD, or history of CVD) prevention groups.

The updated consensus statement lowers the target BP level for African Americans in the primary prevention group to less than 135/85 mmHg, and to less than 130/80 mmHg for those in the secondary prevention group. The statement also recommends intensive lifestyle modifications for all blacks who have a BP of at least 115/75 mmHg.

Several authors of the statement and an accompanying editorial disclosed financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.