In this post – Many People Unaware High Blood Pressure Usually Has No Noticeable Symptoms @ יואל קסלר .קום – we present new data from a Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) health survey that suggests that many people have misconceptions about what constitutes high blood pressure and that it can be asymptomatic.
בפוסט הזה – אנשים רבים אינם מודעים לכך שלחץ דם גבוה בדרך כלל אינו לוקה בתסמינים מורגשים @ יואל קסלר .קום – אנו מציגים נתונים חדשים מסקר בריאות של מרכז המדיניות הציבורית של אננברג, המצביעים על כך שלאנשים רבים יש תפיסות מוטעות לגבי מהו לחץ דם גבוה ושהוא יכול להיות אסימפטומטי.
Below is an excerpt of the publication and the full article can be found here.
"Hypertension or high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attack and stroke, the two top causes of death in the United States, is one of the most widespread chronic illnesses in America, afflicting nearly half of adults. In a recent Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) health survey, 35% of respondents report having been diagnosed with high blood pressure and two-thirds of this group say they’re somewhat or very worried about having high blood pressure.
But the survey finds that few U.S. adults – including those who have been diagnosed with high blood pressure – can correctly identify what blood pressure reading doctors consider “high.” A reading of 130/80 mm Hg or over is considered high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and just over 1 in 8 Americans know this.
The survey, conducted among 1,653 empaneled U.S. adults from April 15-28, 2025, finds that over a third think incorrectly that high blood pressure nearly always has noticeable symptoms like dizziness and shortness of breath (it doesn’t). And nearly 4 in 10 say incorrectly that feeling calm and relaxed is a sign that your blood pressure is in a normal range (it isn’t).
Despite these common misconceptions, the survey finds that a large majority of U.S. adults is familiar with measures that can help to lower high blood pressure – and they’re known both to people with high blood pressure and those who have not been diagnosed with it. (See the topline for the data.)
“Because controlling blood pressure reduces one’s risk of serious health problems, including heart attacks and strokes,” said Patrick E. Jamieson, director of the policy center’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, “correcting misperceptions about ways to identify it should be a public health priority.”
Highlights
The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s April 2025 health survey finds that:
- Among the U.S. adults in our study who report ever being diagnosed with hypertension or high blood pressure, about two-thirds are somewhat or very worried about it.
- Just 13% of Americans can identify the blood pressure reading that signifies high blood pressure – 130/80 mm Hg or over – but more incorrectly think it is 140/90, an earlier cutoff point that was lowered by cardiologists in 2017. Nearly a quarter of Americans don’t know which reading indicates high blood pressure.
- Over a third of Americans think that high blood pressure nearly always has noticeable symptoms like dizziness and shortness of breath and nearly 4 in 10 say that feeling calm and relaxed is a sign your blood pressure is in a normal range. Neither claim is true.
- Most people are familiar with ways to lower blood pressure and say they would take these steps if a doctor recommended them – but fewer say they actually take these steps.
Most do not know how to define high blood pressure
Blood pressure is a measure of the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats. Blood pressure is stated as a pair of numbers – the upper number, or systolic pressure, shows the pressure when the heart beats (as measured in millimeters of mercury, mm Hg) and the lower number, or diastolic pressure, represents the resting pressure in between heartbeats, the American Heart Association (AHA) says. In 2017, the AHA and the American College of Cardiology redefined high blood pressure as 130/80 mm Hg, lowering it from the prior cutoff of 140/90.
High blood pressure, according to the CDC, was a primary or contributing cause of over 685,000 deaths in the United States in 2022.
In the survey, 35% of respondents report having been diagnosed with high blood pressure and 69% of respondents report having a family member other than themselves with this condition.
Despite the prevalence of this chronic condition, few people can define what constitutes high blood pressure. Respondents were provided with five possible sets of numbers and asked which represents the onset of high blood pressure. Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) respondents say they are not sure at what point a blood pressure reading is considered high. People who report having high blood pressure are more confident about their knowledge of the cutoff (just 10% are not sure), compared with those without the diagnosis (32% not sure).
A quarter of respondents (25%) chose the old, pre-2017 cutoff of 140/90 and over; 16% chose over 140/80; 18% chose over 130/90; and 13% opted for the correct, current definition of over 130/80.
What people get wrong and right about high blood pressure
The survey finds that a significant number of people get two consequential claims about high blood pressure wrong and one right:
If it runs in the family: Most people (80%) accurately know that if high blood pressure runs in your family, it’s false to say there’s nothing you can do to effectively reduce it.
Many don’t know it’s typically a “silent” illness: Over a third of people (37%) incorrectly say that someone with high blood pressure nearly always has noticeable symptoms like dizziness or shortness of breath. The CDC says high blood pressure “typically has no signs or symptoms,” as 39% of survey respondents know, including half of those with high blood pressure (50%) but fewer of those (33%) without the diagnosis. The American Heart Association says that the usual absence of symptoms is why high blood pressure is known as “the silent killer.”
Feeling calm and relaxed is not a sign: Nearly 4 in 10 people (39%) incorrectly say “feeling calm and relaxed” is an indication that your blood pressure is in the normal range. This is false, as 53% of those with high blood pressure but just 40% of those without high blood pressure know. Seventeen percent are not sure if this is true."
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