In November 2017, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, along with nine supporting organizations, released their new Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults along with a systematic review (1,2). This guideline, intended to provide an update to the 2003 Joint National Committee guideline (JNC 7), has already generated considerable controversy (3–7). It lowered the threshold for the diagnosis of hypertension to ≥130/80 mmHg from the previous threshold of ≥140/90 mmHg, added a new category of ‘elevated blood pressure’ for those at 120–129/(previously considered normal), and lowered the target for those being treated..
