[New guidelines of the Joint National Committee (USA) on Prevention, Diagnosis and Management of Hypertension. From JNC VI to JNC VII].

Need for update of guidelines of the Joint National Committee (USA) on Prevention, Diagnosis and Management of Hypertension was based on necessity to adopt changes based on results of recent studies as well as creation of more simple and convenient variant for practical physicians. Compared with JNC VI most important changes concerned classification of blood pressure (BP) levels and approaches to drug therapy. New category "prehypertension" was introduced and 2 stages of hypertension distinguished: stage I - systolic BP 140-159 mm Hg or diastolic 90-99 mm Hg, stage II - systolic BP 160 mm Hg or higher, diastolic BP 100 mm Hg or higher. Diuretics were recommended as drugs of first choice and wider use of drug combinations encouraged. Some statements of JNC VII report have been criticized by some hypertension authorities.