May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month. It also is the start of a major campaign to increase awareness of the dangers of high systolic blood pressure, also known as systolic hypertension. The campaign is being undertaken by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National High Blood Pressure Education Program (NHBPEP), which it coordinates. The NHLBI is part of the National Institutes of Health.

The cornerstone of the campaign is the release by the NHLBI and the NHBPEP of a clinical advisory recommending that systolic blood pressure be emphasized in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in middle-aged and older adults. The clinical advisory appears in this month's issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.