Hypertension guideline writing process underway; new recommendations for managing high blood pressure expected in 2016

A multi-disciplinary writing panel led by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association has begun work on a new guideline for the management of hypertension to update 12-year-old recommendations.  Nine additional medical societies have signed on as partners in the effort.

The writing process will include the use of a separate evidence review committee that will develop a systematic review on specific critical questions, which will inform recommendations in the 2016 Guideline on the Management of Hypertension.

The document will update the 2003 guideline, officially the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, known as JNC 7, which was empaneled by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In 2013, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology assumed responsibility for leading the writing of updates for a suite of cardiovascular prevention guidelines formerly developed by NHLBI writing groups.

Partners in developing the new hypertension guideline are the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the American College of Preventive Medicine, the American Geriatrics Society, the American Pharmacists Association, the American Society of Hypertension, the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, the Association of Black Cardiologists, the National Medical Association, and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association.