A patient's visit to the health care clinic reveals a blood pressure of 130/82. The patient's blood pressure has been 138/88 at each of the last three clinic visits. How does the nurse evaluate this information?

Question

1. The patient's blood pressure meets the criteria for stage 1 hypertension.
2. The patient should be educated on lifestyle modifications to reduce the risk of developing stage 1 hypertension.
3. The patient's risk of developing hypertension is no higher than anyone else's.
4. The patient has stage 2 hypertension and requires medication.

Answer 1

2
Rationale 1: Stage 1 hypertension is a blood pressure of 140 to 159 mmHg systolic or 90 to 99 mmHg diastolic measured over multiple office visits.
Rationale 2: This patient's blood pressure meets the criteria for prehypertension (systolic 120–139 or diastolic 80–89). Prehypertension increases the risk of developing stage 1 or stage 2 hypertension.
Rationale 3: Prehypertension increases the patient's risk of developing hypertension.
Rationale 4: This is not stage 2 hypertension.