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Each year, the American Heart Association (AHA), in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies, brings together the most up-to-date statistics on heart disease, stroke, other vascular diseases, and their risk factors and presents them in its Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update*The Statistical Update is a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, healthcare policy makers, media professionals, the lay public, and many others who seek the best national data available on heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular disease-related morbidity and mortality and the risks, quality of care, medical procedures and operations, and costs associated with the management of these diseases in a single document*Indeed, since 1999, the Statistical Update has been cited >10 500 times in the literature, based on citations of all annual versions*In 2011 alone, the various Statistical Updates were cited ≈1500 times (data from ISI Web of Science)*In recent years, the Statistical Update has undergone some major changes with the addition of new chapters and major updates across multiple areas, as well as increasing the number of ways to access and use the information assembled*For this year's edition, the Statistics Committee, which produces the document for the AHA, updated all of the current chapters with the most recent nationally representative data and inclusion of relevant articles from the literature over the past year*This year's edition also implements a new chapter organization to reflect the spectrum of cardiovascular health behaviors and health factors and risks, as well as subsequent complicating conditions, disease states, and outcomes*Also, the 2013 Statistical Update contains new data on the monitoring and benefits of cardiovascular health in the population, with additional new focus on evidence-based approaches to changing behaviors, implementation strategies, and implications of the AHA's 2020 Impact Goals*Below are a few highlights from this year's Update . © 2013 American Heart Association, Inc.

BackgroundSince 2003, the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee (JNC-7) has been the predominant guideline for blood pressure management. A 2014 expert panel recommended increasing the blood pressure targets for patients age 60 years and older, as well as those with diabetes or chronic kidney disease.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the 2014 expert panel blood pressure management recommendations on patients managed in U.S. ambulatory cardiovascular practices.MethodsUsing the National Cardiovascular Data Registry PINNACLE Registry, we assessed the proportion of patients who met the 2003 and 2014 panel recommendations, highlighting the populations of patients for whom the blood pressure goals changed.ResultsOf 1,185,253 patients in the study cohort, 706,859 (59.6%) achieved the 2003 JNC-7 goals. Using the 2014 recommendations, 880,378 (74.3%) patients were at goal. Among the 173,519 (14.6%) for whom goal achievement changed, 40,323 (23.2%) had a prior stroke or transient ischemic attack, and 112,174 (64.6%) had coronary artery disease. In addition, the average Framingham risk score in this group was 8.5 ± 3.2%, and the 10-year ASCVD risk score was 28.0 ± 19.5%.ConclusionsAmong U.S. ambulatory cardiology patients with hypertension, nearly 1 in 7 who did not meet JNC-7 recommendations would now meet the 2014 treatment goals. If the new recommendations are implemented in clinical practice, blood pressure target achievement and cardiovascular events will need careful monitoring, because many patients for whom the target blood pressure is now more permissive are at high cardiovascular risk.