Overview

Although often overlooked or misunderstood, high blood pressure is a serious disease that can cause damage to the body with every beat of the heart. The most common type of heart disease, high blood pressure has reached crisis proportions worldwide. One billion people globally and nearly 65 million Americans—one in three adults—suffer from the condition. Each year, high blood pressure accounts for roughly one in eight deaths. Although high blood pressure can be successfully treated, nearly 70 percent of people who have this condition do not have it under control.

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The information on this site is compiled from the symposium which took place on Monday, June 28, 2004, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. This symposium focused on new JNC-7 guidelines for healthy blood pressure, review clinical evidence the supports the need to address hypertension as an urgent unmet health care need and urge nurses to take responsibility for engaging patients and the public in making critical lifestyle changes to reduce risks for hypertension and cardiovascular disease.