Overview

• The American Heart Association updated U.S. guidance to treat patients to keep blood pressure below 130/80 mmHg, moving intervention earlier in care.
• Researchers at the George Institute introduced a calculator, published in The Lancet, that estimates average blood‑pressure reductions for medications and combinations using data from nearly 500 randomized trials involving over 100,000 people.
• The tool classifies therapies by low, moderate, or high intensity to help match treatment plans to the reduction each patient requires.
• Experts note that a single antihypertensive typically lowers systolic pressure by only 8–9 mmHg while many patients need 15–30 mmHg reductions, and they warn that variable blood‑pressure readings can obscure true treatment effects.
• Hypertension affects about 1.3 billion people and causes roughly ten million deaths annually, and broader control could save many lives according to the study’s authors.