This must be a high priority item - to save lives

Photo from Doug McCaughan via Flickr

Chances are, you have high blood pressure or you know someone with high blood pressure.

Chances are, you know that high blood pressure is the leading cause of strokes.

Now, it's even clearer that even tighter control of high blood pressure is a key to stroke prevention:

"Our results provide important evidence that treating blood pressure to a lower goal in older or high-risk patients can be beneficial and yield better health results overall," said Dr. Lawrence Fine, chief of the Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "But patients should talk to their doctor to determine whether this lower goal is best for their individual care."

A systolic pressure of 120, maintained under a more intensive blood pressure drug treatment regimen, could ultimately help save lives among adults aged 50 and older who have a combination of high blood pressure and at least one additional risk factor for heart disease, the researchers said.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a spokesman for the American Heart Association, said that "these are spectacular findings that will set us on a path to markedly reduce the risk of heart attacks, heart failure and stroke."

Stroke treatments and better methods boost recovery are important. But preventing strokes must be a high priority.