Health watchdogs consider new US blood pressure guidelines Hypertension is a disorder that requires many medications and the patient doesn't feel any better when you treat them. "That's what makes this a daunting condition." said cardiologist Richard Krasuski, of Cleveland Clinic. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published new guidelines last year and will be reviewing them until 2015. NICE said it would consider the new findings but said there was good evidence to suggest blood pressure should still be treated as dangerous over 140 over 90. A spokesman said: "There is a very clear relationship between blood pressure and cardiovascular events. The NICE guideline draws on an analysis of 61 prospective observational studies, involving nearly one million individuals The relationship between blood pressure and disease was constant over a wide range suggesting there is no clear threshold below which further reduction in blood pressure becomes unbeneficial or harmful. NICE is committed to ensuring that everyone is able to receive the best care and cost-effective medicines from the NHS and we will certainly consider the US studies - along with all other available evidence - when the NICE guideline on hypertension is next considered for review. In England nearly one in three people have high blood pressure and if left untreated increases the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Blood pressure measures how strongly blood presses against the walls of your arteries as it is pumped around your body by the heart. In a reading the top number in a blood pressure reading is the systolic rate and shows the pressure when the heart beats. The lower number is the diastolic reading, which measures the pressure between the heart beats. Studies show about 90 percent of people may eventually develop it. Many people who suffer from hypertension require several types of drugs for their treatment, which could be a mix of beta-blockers, diuretics, alpha-blockers, ACE inhibitors or calcium channel blockers. They can cause side effects such as fainting spells, dizziness, headache, tiredness and swollen ankles. People age 60 and older were focused on in the US guidelines because experts said they were "concerned about the number of medications that may be required," "There are side effects from each and every medication and there may be drug-drug interactions," warned Dr Paul James, the lead author of the article and chairman of family medicine at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Dr James said patients should not be taken off their existing medications if they are doing well. "No one should stop or change what drugs they take without first discussing the issue with their physician" he advised. The recommendations, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.