At or above 140/90? Yes
standard-threshold-metNo one has reached this rule yetStart medication
No clinician has signed off this rule yet. It reflects our reading of the guidelines cited below, which has not been independently checked.
Word for word, as generated for the example person below. Figures in the text are theirs.
Starting antihypertensive medication is recommended, alongside lifestyle measures.
Your reading (146/92 mmHg) is at or above the general drug-therapy threshold of 140/90 mmHg.
Before acting on this: one reading isn't a diagnosis. Check it at home, twice a day for a week, and bring the average.
Blood pressure is diagnosed on an average of several readings across separate occasions, not a single number. Technique matters more than people expect: sit with your back supported and feet flat for five minutes first, arm resting at heart height, cuff on bare skin and correctly sized, no talking, no coffee or exercise in the prior 30 minutes. Take two readings a minute apart, morning and evening. Roughly 1 in 5 people who look hypertensive in a clinic are normal at home (white-coat), and some people with normal clinic readings are high at home (masked) — both change the decision.
2025 AHA/ACC Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults · Class I — measurement method
Promising evidence that hasn't become standard care yet — worth knowing, not yet worth expecting.
The <130/80 universal target itself was the frontier position a few years ago. It is now current guideline, not a step ahead of it.
The <130/80 universal target and the lower drug-initiation threshold for higher-risk groups were themselves the 'frontier' position as recently as a few years ago; they are now current guideline.
2025 AHA/ACC Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults · Context note
“Stage 2 blood pressure, lower-risk” — an illustrative profile, not a real user.
Asked after: Standard-risk group for blood pressure
Cited by the recommendations above.
For practising clinicians. Endorse it, propose a change, or dispute it. We verify every reviewer before a review is shown, and a review stays attached to the version of the rule you saw — if the rule changes, the page says so. You'll be asked to declare any relevant interests; they're shown with your review.
Log in or create an account to submit a review. An account is how we tie a review to a person we can verify.
Runs in lib/engine/bpPathway.ts as standard-threshold-met.