New medical guidelines lower the threshold for high blood pressure, adding 30 million Americans to those who have the condition.
That means now nearly half of US adults have stage 1 hypertension and need to make urgent lifestyle changes to bring that number down.
High pressure has long meant a top reading of at least 140 or a bottom one of 90, but that has dropped to 130/80, according to a report published by the American Heart Association on Monday.
The change reclassifies 14 percent of US adults, who were once deemed ‘high normal’ and now have a more critical diagnosis.
Experts have hailed the shift amid swelling obesity rates and poor nutrition.