What do the new blood pressure guidelines mean for you? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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The United States Preventive Services Task Force has just updated their guidelines on managing blood pressure. Greg Prokopowicz, a blood pressure expert at Johns Hopkins, says managing your blood pressure starts with getting it measured.

Prokopowicz: Starting at age 18, you should have your blood pressure checked. Another question is how often should you have it checked? So if you’re under 40 and your blood pressure is quote unquote normal, which by current guidelines would actually be under 120 over 80, so that would mean your blood pressure would have to been in the one-teens over 70s or lower. If your blood pressure is normal then they say check it every several years maybe every three years but if it’s in the high normal range, in the 120s over 70s, then you’d probably want to monitor it approximately yearly.   :33

Prokopowicz says some people may need to measure their blood pressure much more often, in particular when they’ve had a number of readings that indicate it is high. He says your provider can tell you if this is a necessary step for you. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.