JNC 8: Expectations, Challenges, and Wishes—A Primary Care Perspective

The Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC) reports have dramatically shaped the treatment of hypertension in this country and beyond. The JNC recommendations have been the cornerstone in the detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure (BP) in this country since inception. Their periodic revisions have evolved with the publications of well-designed outcome studies. The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7), as part of the evolutionary patterns of its predecessors, added prevention to its guidelines. But as we await JNC 8, it may be useful to speculate what changes may be incorporated in the JNC's latest report. This brief commentary provides some expectations, challenges and wishes for JNC 8 from the perspective of a primary care physician.