Medicine: Guideline for high blood pressure updated

The best-known guideline for high blood pressure (hypertension) has been updated. The update is controversial. Every recommendation in this new guideline is exactly how doctors expected them, except one. The unexpected recommendation is: “Treat patients 60 years of age or older only when the top number, the systolic blood pressure, exceeds 150.” Although this recommendation has led to controversy, it is drawn strictly from high quality medical data.