Nation IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Exercise Aids Severe High Blood Pressure

A study of black men has shown for the first time that exercise can significantly reduce severe high blood pressure. What doctors call hypertension afflicts 50 million Americans and is especially common among blacks. While exercise is routinely recommended for people with mildly high blood pressure, it has not been studied for those with more serious cases. “Our results show that the effectiveness of moderately intense exercise extends to patients with severe hypertension,” wrote Dr. Peter F. Kokkinos and colleagues, whose findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.