The Rise of the Term “Prehypertension”

TO THE EDITOR:

In their recent article, Pletcher and colleagues (1) use the term “prehypertension.” A quick search of MEDLINE reveals that this term was rarely used before 2003. It was largely invented by the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Since 2004, many articles have mentioned it. What exactly does “prehypertension” mean, and why is its use so persistent? Prehypertension means blood pressure within or slightly above the normal range—in other words, it is a way of categorizing what is a continuous variable (blood pressure). I speculate that this term has come into vogue because “prehypertension” sounds …