Top blood pressure number is key

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Top blood pressure number is key

WASHINGTON - Millions of Americans don't have their high blood pressure under

control, and one reason is that some doctors still believe an old myth that

systolic pressure - the top number in your reading - isn't really important,

health officials said Thursday. Systolic hypertension is a major underemphasized

threat, particularly for older people, even if their diastolic pressure, the

bottom number, is perfectly normal, says a National Institutes of Health

advisory to physicians. ''Unfortunately, many physicians have not yet ... become

aggressive in treating such patients,'' said Dr. Levy, director of the

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's massive Framingham Heart Study and

co-author of the advisory.