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CNN Live Today

'Daily Dose'

Aired May 14, 2003 - 11:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: If you think you are not in danger from high blood pressure, you might want to check again. The government is issuing new guidelines. What was once considered normal may now actually be a cause for concern.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to tell us about the numbers and where the little red flags go up.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And they go up sooner than a lot of people think they do. Fifty million Americans have high blood pressure, and about one third of those don't even realize that they have high blood pressure. What the National Institutes of Health is announcing today is that there's a category of people who used to be thought to be in the borderline OK range who may actually be in danger, and doctors should take steps. Let's take a look at exactly what those numbers are.

What the NIH is now is that people who have blood pressure -- that's hard to say -- of 120/80 to 129/89. In other words, if you're in that range, then you would be considered prehypertensive and doctors would tell you that you need to do lifestyle changes -- exercise, diet, that sort of thing -- so that you don't get any higher. Because if you get much higher than that, then doctors will tell you that perhaps you need to take drugs. Drugs have side effects, and you don't want to take them unless you absolutely need to. Let's take a look at some other findings here.

Another finding is that for people over age 50 the top number, the systolic number, is actually more important than the diastolic number. And secondly, the findings are that two or more drugs are better for most patients.

In other words, most patients ought to be taking two or more drugs, not just one drug. Now, that finding is a bit controversial. There's another group of doctors that says, no, that's not true, it's just that some drugs work for some people but not for others. So they say one drug is fine, it just needs to be the right drug. Not everyone agrees, and that debate will probably go on and on.

KAGAN: Let's keep this on drugs and talk about another kind -- Diuretics.

COHEN: Right, diuretics are these old-fashioned, been around forever, nobody makes any money off them, because they're so cheap at this point. And in fact, what the National Institutes of Health have found is that for people to be on two drugs, one of those drugs should be a diuretic, or perhaps if you're only on one drug, that ought to be a diuretic.

In other words, they're saying that most people if you have hypertension that needs to be medicated should be taking a diuretic. And sometimes that gets kind of lost, because again, nobody makes any money. So you're not going to turn on your TV and see an ad for a diuretic probably.

KAGAN: Yes, I hate that that's how the system works. But if you're an informed consumer you can get around that.

COHEN: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired May 14, 2003 - 11:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: If you think you are not in danger from high blood pressure, you might want to check again. The government is issuing new guidelines. What was once considered normal may now actually be a cause for concern.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to tell us about the numbers and where the little red flags go up.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And they go up sooner than a lot of people think they do. Fifty million Americans have high blood pressure, and about one third of those don't even realize that they have high blood pressure. What the National Institutes of Health is announcing today is that there's a category of people who used to be thought to be in the borderline OK range who may actually be in danger, and doctors should take steps. Let's take a look at exactly what those numbers are.

What the NIH is now is that people who have blood pressure -- that's hard to say -- of 120/80 to 129/89. In other words, if you're in that range, then you would be considered prehypertensive and doctors would tell you that you need to do lifestyle changes -- exercise, diet, that sort of thing -- so that you don't get any higher. Because if you get much higher than that, then doctors will tell you that perhaps you need to take drugs. Drugs have side effects, and you don't want to take them unless you absolutely need to. Let's take a look at some other findings here.

Another finding is that for people over age 50 the top number, the systolic number, is actually more important than the diastolic number. And secondly, the findings are that two or more drugs are better for most patients.

In other words, most patients ought to be taking two or more drugs, not just one drug. Now, that finding is a bit controversial. There's another group of doctors that says, no, that's not true, it's just that some drugs work for some people but not for others. So they say one drug is fine, it just needs to be the right drug. Not everyone agrees, and that debate will probably go on and on.

KAGAN: Let's keep this on drugs and talk about another kind -- Diuretics.

COHEN: Right, diuretics are these old-fashioned, been around forever, nobody makes any money off them, because they're so cheap at this point. And in fact, what the National Institutes of Health have found is that for people to be on two drugs, one of those drugs should be a diuretic, or perhaps if you're only on one drug, that ought to be a diuretic.

In other words, they're saying that most people if you have hypertension that needs to be medicated should be taking a diuretic. And sometimes that gets kind of lost, because again, nobody makes any money. So you're not going to turn on your TV and see an ad for a diuretic probably.

KAGAN: Yes, I hate that that's how the system works. But if you're an informed consumer you can get around that.

COHEN: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com