OK, this is confusing. After years of being told that we should kee
p our systolic (the top number) blood pressure below 140 (150 for people over 60), a new study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute suggests that 120 would be a much safer target. National Public Radio reports that the so-called SPRINT study, the largest study ever conducted to examine whether reducing systolic blood pressure below the currently recommended goal would be beneficial, recruited more than 9,300 adults with high blood pressure and at least one other risk factor for heart disease, such as being a smoker or having high cholesterol. Half of them tried to lower their blood pressure to 140, and the other half aimed at 120. NPR reports that study was supposed to end in 2016, but it was stopped when a preliminary analysis showed that reducing systolic blood pressure to 120 or lower reduced heart attacks, strokes and heart failure by almost a third and the risk of death by almost a quarter.