High Blood Pressure for Dummies®

Book excerpt: Since the last edition of this book, big changes have occurred in our understanding of high blood pressure and its treatment. The categories of high blood pressure have been reduced, and our recommendations about early treatment have changed as well. New drugs are available and old ones are off the market. A major Medicare drug plan, Part D, has confused millions of elderly Americans and changed how they pay for their drugs, including those for high blood pressure. These changes alone are more than enough justification for a new edition of High Blood Pressure For Dummies. This edition has more emphasis on prevention. I also include new discoveries and myths about high blood pressure, so if you already have the first edition, know that I've packed this one with new stuff. (At the very least, buy it for your spouse - then borrow it so you stay up to date!). But the main reason I wanted to write this update comes from an article that appears in the January 2007 issue of the journal Diabetes Care. The article points out that ''despite the publication of increasingly aggressive guidelines for lowering blood pressure, [high blood pressure] remains substantially unimproved among diabetic patients.'' In other words, the number of people with diabetes is increasing explosively, but they're not achieving the level of blood pressure control that will prevent heart attacks, strokes, and amputations. . I hope to change this outcome by helping the even larger population without diabetes to control their blood pressure. ----Alan L. Rubin, MD.