Preventive Guidelines: Do Lower Medical Numbers Make Chronic Disease More Likely?

Hypertension has new numbers that are lower for normal.  To be considered normotensive your blood pressure numbers should be lower than 120/80 versus the former normal blood pressure below 140/90.  This is the new recommendation from the cardiology experts.  This may be shown to cause less morbidity and mortality, but it may cause more people to be considered hypertensive.  If your reading on three doctor visits is over 120/80, you will be considered a patient with hypertension.

This is just one of the many medical measurements or blood tests where the WNL (within normal limits) has been lowered.  Cholesterol was at one time considered normal at 300.  The normal now is under 180.  New tests can have the same effect.  The BUN and creatinine were once the basic kidney function tests.  Now the GFR is added to these.  Your BUN and creatinine can be normal while your GFR suggests kidney disease based on your sex and your ethnicity. 

Do lower medical measurements and numbers really mean that more patients will have some chronic disease sooner? Or does it mean lower numbers mean better health with less morbidity and mortality?    Good health care will help keep you and your numbers healthier.  Keeping a lifestyle of healthy food, exercise, good sleep, and minimal stress are important health care routines for better health.  These can be integrated with complementary medicine and medication treatments if necessary. 
You should know the measurements and numbers of all your health tests.  This helps you attain better understanding and control of the unhealthy abnormal.  Lower numbers can mean less chronic disease if you know what you have and how to keep it from becoming chronic disease.  Best health!