ABSTRACT
An estimated 73 million people in the United States live
with hypertension. As many as 55,000 deaths are directly
attributed to hypertension each year, and it is considered an
underlying or contributing factor in at least another 300,000.
In 2003, the Joint National Committee on Prevention,
Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure
(JNC) issued its seventh report, which provided guidelines for
the diagnosis and management of this disease. Included in the
guidelines were: a new classifi cation system for hypertension;
recommendations for lifestyle modifi cations; and recommendations
for pharmacologic therapy. New JNC guidelines
are expected in 2009, but until then, and to understand the
forthcoming changes in recommendations, it is important to
revisit and review those of JNC 7.