May is High Blood Pressure Education Month
May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month. About 73 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension. High blood pressure increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States. Researchers estimate that high blood pressure will cost more than $73 billion in direct and indirect costs in 2009.
Have Your Blood Pressure Checked Regularly
Normal blood pressure | systolic: less than 120 mmHg |
Prehypertension |
systolic: 120–139 mmHg |
High blood pressure |
systolic: 140 mmHg or higher |
Blood pressure is written as two numbers. The first (systolic) number represents the pressure when the heart beats. The second (diastolic) number represents the pressure when the heart rests between beats.
Persons taking hypertensive medications are considered to have high blood pressure. Blood pressure that is slightly higher than normal is called prehypertension. Persons with prehypertension are more likely to develop high blood pressure than are persons with normal blood pressure levels.
Quick Facts
Who Has High Blood Pressure?
- Almost 90% of middle-aged adults will develop high blood pressure during the remainder of their lifetime.
- About 28% of American adults have prehypertension.
- Nearly one of five people with high blood pressure do not know they have it.
- In the United States, high blood pressure is more common among blacks than whites. About 44% of black women have high blood pressure.
Health Impact of High Blood Pressure
- High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.
- High blood pressure was a primary or contributing cause of death for 319,000 Americans in 2005.
- Nearly 45 million people visited their doctor for high blood pressure in 2006.
High Blood Pressure and Salt
- A diet high in sodium (salt) increases the risk for higher blood pressure. About 77% of the sodium Americans consume comes from processed and restaurant foods.
- Reducing sodium levels by half in processed and restaurant foods would save about 150,000 American lives according to the American Journal of Public Health.
Preventing and Controlling High Blood Pressure
You can maintain healthy blood pressure through changing your lifestyle or by combining lifestyle changes with prescribed medications.
Key lifestyle changes include the following:
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Be moderately physically active on most days of the week.
- Follow a healthy eating plan, which includes eating foods lower in sodium.
- Quit smoking.
- If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.
- If you have high blood pressure and are prescribed medication, take it as directed.
The most recent recommendations for detecting and treating high blood pressure are available from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.
CDC's High Blood Pressure Efforts
Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program: CDC currently funds the development of effective strategies to prevent and control heart disease, stroke, and related risk factors in 41 states and the District of Columbia. The program emphasizes policy, environmental, and systems changes that promote heart-healthy and stroke-free living and working conditions. For more information, visit CDC's National Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program.
More Information
- Application of Lower Sodium Intake Recommendations to Adults—United States, 1999–2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, March 27, 2009.
- Most Americans Should Consume Less Sodium. Reducing sodium intake improves blood pressure and lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke for everyone, even those who have normal blood pressure.
- Prevalence of Actions to Control High Blood Pressure—20 States, 2005. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 4, 2007.
- Hypertension-Related Mortality Among Hispanic Subpopulations—United States, 1995–2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, February 24, 2006.
- Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Prevalence, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension—United States, 1999–2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, January 14, 2005.
- High Blood Pressure Fact Sheet
- Pulmonary Hypertension Fact Sheet
- State Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program Addresses High Blood Pressure
Visit CDC's partners for more information about high blood pressure.
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