The classification of blood pressure in adults (18 years and
older) is based on the average of two or more properly measured
blood pressure readings from two or more clinical visits (see Table
3). If the systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure values
fall into different categories, the overall classification is determined
based on the higher of the two blood pressures. Blood pressure is
classified into one of four categories: normal, prehypertension, stage
1 HTN and stage 2 HTN. Prehypertension is not considered a
disease, but identifies those who are likely to progress to stage 1 or
stage 2 HTN in the future.1,5