VOA慢速英语2017 美国修改高血压标准（在线收听）

US Changes Definition for High Blood Pressure

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康和生活报道。

Recently, two leading heart organizations changed the definition of what it means to have high blood pressure. Because of this change, the number of Americans with high blood pressure jumped from 32 percent to 46 percent.

最近，两家最重要的心脏病组织修改了高血压的定义。由于这一变化，美国高血压患者比例从32%上升到了46%。

Doctors at the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology now classify anyone with a blood pressure reading of 130 over 80 as having high blood pressure.

美国心脏协会和美国心脏病学会的医生们现在将血压读数大于130／80的人划分为高血压患者。

Before, the cutoffs for high blood pressure had been a top number of 140 and a lower number of 90.

之前，高血压临界值是指高压140和低压90。

Health experts at the website Science Daily say blood pressure is defined by two numbers. The top number, called systolic, represents the force with which your heart pumps blood into the blood vessels. The bottom, called diastolic, is a measure of the resistance to the blood flow in the body's blood vessels.

《科学日报》网站的专家表示，血压是由两个数字来定义的。高压，也称作收缩压，是指心脏将血液泵入血管的力量。低压，也称作舒张压，是人体血管中血流阻力的量度。

The American Heart Association says the new guidelines are designed to help people take steps to control their blood pressure earlier. High blood pressure can cause heart disease and stroke – the two leading causes of death in the world.

美国心脏协会表示，新指南旨在帮助人们采取措施控制血压。高血压会导致心脏病和中风，这是人类两大主要死亡原因。

The new guidelines set blood pressures in these categories:

新指南将血压设定为以下类别：

Normal Blood Pressure: Under 120 over 80

正常血压：低于 120/80。

Elevated Blood Pressure: Top number 120-129 and bottom number less than 80

血压升高：高压介于120-129之间，低压低于80。

High Blood Pressure / Stage 1: Top number of 130-139 or bottom number 80-89

1级高血压：高压介于130-139之间，或者低压介于80-89之间。

High Blood Pressure / Stage 2: Top number at least 140 or bottom number at least 90

2级高血压：高压≥140或者低压≥90。

High blood pressure around the world

世界各地的高血压情况

A 2016 study by the World Health Organization and hundreds of scientists found that the number of people in the world with high blood pressure had reached 1.13 billion.

世界卫生组织和数百位科学家在2016年进行的一项研究中发现，全球高血压患者人数已经达到了11.3亿。

However, the study defined high blood pressure as 140 over 90. Should they adopt the new guidelines, the number of people with high blood pressure worldwide will most likely increase.

然而，该研究将高血压定义为140/90。如果他们采纳新指南，全球范围内的高血压患者人数将很有可能会增加。

Scientists at Imperial College London led the study and looked at blood pressure measurements from nearly 20 million people from the years 1975 to 2015.

伦敦帝国理工学院的科学家领导了这项研究，他们检查了1975年到2015年近2千万人的血压测量结果。

In this study, they found that the number of people with high blood pressure nearly doubled in 40 years.

在这项研究中，他们发现高血压患者人数在40年内几乎翻番。

Researchers found that over half of the world's adults with high blood pressure lived in Asia. Around 226 million people in China have high blood pressure, along with 200 million in India.

研究人员发现，全球一半以上的成年高血压患者生活在亚洲。中国大约有2.26亿人患有高血压，印度则有2亿人。

This study also found that in 2015 people in South Korea, the USA and Canada had the lowest high blood pressure rates in the world. With the new U.S. guidelines, the U.S. ranking in the world could change.

该研究还发现，2015年韩国、美国和加拿大居民罹患高血压比例是全球最低的。根据美国这项新指南，美国的全球排名可能会发生改变。

The researchers from Imperial College London published their findings from the study in the January 2017 edition of the medical journal The Lancet.

伦敦帝国理工学院的研究人员将他们的研究结果发表在2017年1月版的《柳叶刀》医学杂志上。

Does this mean more medication is necessary?

这是否意味着需要服药？

Health experts are warning people to not rush to medication to lower their high blood pressure. They advise that there are many lifestyle changes a person can make to effectively keep their blood pressure at a healthy level.

健康专家警告人们不要急于服药来降低血压。他们建议人们可以对生活方式做出多种改变，以便有效地将他们的血压保持在一个健康的水平。

Regular exercise and losing weight can lower your blood pressure. In some people, making changes in diet can make a big difference. Eating more fruits, vegetables, fish, beans, nuts and seeds can help. Eating less sodium and drinking less alcohol can also help.

经常锻炼和减肥可以降低血压。在有些人当中，改变饮食习惯可以产生很大影响。多吃水果、蔬菜、鱼、豆类、坚果和籽会有帮助。低盐、少喝酒也会有帮助。

And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report.

以上就是本期健康和生活报道的全部内容。

I’m Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

classify – v. to arrange (people or things) into groups based on ways that they are alike : to consider (someone or something) as belonging to a particular group

systole – n. the contraction of the heart by which the blood is forced onward and the circulation kept up : systolic – adj.

systolic blood pressure – medical noun the highest arterial blood pressure of a cardiac cycle occurring immediately after systole of the left ventricle of the heart — called also systolic pressure;

diastole – n. the dilatation of the cavities of the heart during which they fill with blood : diastolic – adj.

diastolic blood pressure – medical noun the lowest arterial blood pressure of a cardiac cycle occurring during diastole of the heart — called also diastolic pressure

resistance – n. a force that slows down a moving object (such as an airplane) by going against the direction in which the object is moving

category – n. a group of people or things that are similar in some way

edition – n. the form or version in which a text is published