If adopted, last December’s ACC/AHA guidelines on what pressure levels signal hypertension would label almost two thirds of the U.S. population between ages 45 and 75 as having the condition. The number of people who would be candidates for treatment would almost double — from 8 million to about 15 million.

What are the implications of this for clinicians?

Harlan Krumholz, senior author of an analysis in The BMJ, talks about the problems and the opportunities for collaboration with patients.

BMJ article (free)