Blood pressure UK Vs USA - Different guidelines for high bP

sweetsand

England, high BP is 140/90 as high
USA had the same figures up until 5/6 years ago and they now deem high BP as 130/85, whereas in England that is deemed as high normal.
USA found that the drugs that cost a few pence saves millions of lives. Has England, PHE looked into this and why are our standards lower?

keithdc

It will be NICE that defines BP targets and makes recommendations for appropriate drug therapy. 
Guidance and underpinning evidence is available here- last updated in 2019: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng136

sweetsand

Thanks re link - I've read it before but helpful to read again and yes, it is NICE. But I still can't work out why they have not gone down the USA route of lower BP's.

adonis

The cynic in me thinks that USA lowered the BP's to sell more drugs and I bet they are costing more than a few pence.

Spoonie_Turtle

adonis said:

The cynic in me thinks that USA lowered the BP's to sell more drugs and I bet they are costing more than a few pence.

It's entirely possible. Another rationale night be that if they set the target lower, people might not quite make it but would get closer than if they had a slightly higher target, what with the USA having the food and portion sizes that they have.