Full Clinical Guidelines - Community First Health Plans.

11.1 Management of High Blood Pressure
Hypertension is a growing problem in the United States. The American Heart Association: Heart Disease and Stroke
Statistics-2010 Update reports:
• Hypertension killed 56,561 people in the United States in 2006;
• Nearly one in three adults has high blood pressure
• Of those people with hypertension ages 20 and older: 77.6% were aware of their condition; 67.9% were under current
treatment; 44.1% had it under control, and 55.9% did not have it controlled.
• The cause of 90–95% of the cases of high blood pressure isn’t known; however, high blood pressure is easily detected and
usually controllable.
• From 1996 to 2006, the death rate from high blood pressure increased 19.5%, and the actual number of deaths rose 48.1%.
• Non-Hispanic blacks are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than are non-Hispanic whites.
• Within the African-American community, those with the highest rates of hypertension, are more likely to be middle aged
or older, less educated, overweight or obese, physically inactive, and to have diabetes
• In 2006, the death rates per 100,000 population from high blood pressure were 15.6 for white males, 51.1 for black males,
14.3 for white females and 37.7 for black females.
CFHP has adopted the National Institutes of Health (NHI) Guidelines on High Blood Pressure. Based on these guidelines, the
National Institutes of Health and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute developed the Seventh Report of the Joint National
Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC7). A complete copy of the JNC7
Report is available at their web site http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
The areas addressed in the report include the classification of blood pressure, diagnostic workup of hypertension, major
cardiovascular risk factors, identifiable causes of hypertension, principles of hypertension treatment, blood pressure
measurement techniques, causes of resistant hypertension, indications for individual drug classes, and principles of lifestyle
modification and recommendations.
The update of the JNC7 is in development.
92 H EALTH PLANS
www.cfhp.com