SHORT CERT LIKELY — 1-YEAR
The checker reads your verdict. The Kit gets you through the exam: documentation packets for your condition, the two 45-day form clocks run as a calendar, the official medication form packet, waiting-period calendars, failure recovery, and the examiner phone script.
Federal source: Appendix A to Part 391, §A (Hypertension); FMCSA Medical Examiner's Handbook 2024, §4.6 · Rules checked October 2026
Stage 1 hypertension is a reading of 140–159 systolic and/or 90–99 diastolic. FMCSA's advisory criteria direct a 1-year certificate. At each annual exam the reading must be at or below 140/90 to renew at 1-year intervals. These stages are FMCSA's published advisory criteria (Appendix A; Handbook §4.6), applied by the examiner.
You still certify — but for 1 year, not 2, and you come back every year. Stage 1 is a monitoring path, not a failure.
Certificate this points to: 1-YEAR certificates, while the standard's monitoring continues.
Bring a record of treatment if you are on medication, and a home blood-pressure log if you have one. Getting the reading to 140/90 or below by exam day is what keeps the 1-year renewals routine.
This question is decided by the federal text itself. The verdict above is computed from the cited words — your examiner is bound by the same text.
Only a certified medical examiner on the National Registry can certify you. FreightVerdict reads the published federal standards — it does not certify, diagnose, or treat, and nothing here is medical advice.
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