© 2004 by BMJ Publishing Group & British Cardiac Society
Treating to hypertension targets
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
A McKerracher
St Mary’s Hospital, Praed Street, London W2 1NY, UK; a.mckerracher{at}imperial.ac.uk
Control of blood pressure levels in hypertensive patients often fails to meet the targets suggested by the British Hypertension Society (BHS) guidelines. The optimal treatment target for non-diabetic patients is 
140/85 mm Hg. Data from the health survey for England show that in 1998 only 8% of men and 11% of women had blood pressure controlled to < 140/90 mm Hg. The Anglo-Scandinavian cardiac outcomes trial (ASCOT) data show that 87% of non-diabetic patients in the St Mary’s Centre are currently treated to below 140/90 mm Hg. These differences can be explained by strict protocol adherence, a focus on cardiovascular disease, longer consultation times and punctual appointments, reinforcement of non-pharmacological advice, and blood pressure readings taken in line with BHS guidelines. Some of these points might be translated into the more challenging setting of primary care.
Keywords: hypertension; coronary heart disease
Abbreviations: ASCOT, Anglo-Scandinavian cardiac outcomes trial; BHS, British Hypertension Society
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
