What Blood Pressure Targets Should I Aim For After A Heart Attack?

Dr. Sica answers the question: 'Blood Pressure Target Post-Heart Attack?'

ByABC News
January 31, 2008, 3:25 PM

— -- Question: What Blood Pressure Targets Should I Aim For After A Heart Attack?

Answer: After you've had a heart attack, you have to be very careful about the blood pressure. And the type of heart attack comes into play. People who've had a, what we call a big heart attack, oftentimes have low blood pressures after the event, and in those people, there isn't a goal blood pressure. You try to give the medicines that we usually give after a heart attack, and hope the blood pressure doesn't drop too much.

Other less severe forms of a heart attack, where blood pressures remain elevated after the heart attack, lead us for goal of 130/80, if not a little bit lower. And remember 130/80 is kind of an average number that we go for, not just one point in time reading. So, when you're looking at this patient, and the doctors looking at it, they're trying to average out the value, to in essence be below 130/80.

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