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‘How low can you go?’: The shifting guidelines for blood pressure control
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The number doctors use to demarcate hypertension keeps going down.
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN P. DESSEREAU/NYTIMES
Paula Span
NEW YORK – The patient initially came to see Dr Mark Supiano in 2017 because her family was concerned about her short-term memory loss.
While taking her history and vital signs, Dr Supiano, a geriatrician at the University of Utah, saw one disturbing signal. Her blood pressure was 148/86, above normal despite her taking two medications intended to lower it. “Clearly that was too high,” he said recently.
