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The health care provider usually takes 2–3 readings at several medical appointments to diagnose high blood pressure. [40] Using the results of the blood pressure test, the health care provider will diagnose prehypertension or high blood pressure if: For an adult, systolic or diastolic readings are consistently higher than 120/80 mmHg.
Rates also vary markedly within regions with country-level rates as low as 22.8% (men) and 18.4% (women) in Peru and as high as 61.6% (men) and 50.9% (women) in Paraguay. [10] In 1995 it was estimated that 24% of the United States population had hypertension or were taking antihypertensive medication. [160]
In adults, a normal blood pressure is 120/80, with 120 being the systolic and 80 being the diastolic reading. [12] Usually, the blood pressure is read from the left arm unless there is some damage to the arm. The difference between the systolic and diastolic pressure is called the pulse pressure.
If the systolic blood pressure is elevated (>140) with a normal (<90) diastolic blood pressure (DBP), it is called isolated systolic hypertension. [2] Eighty percent of people with systolic hypertension are over the age of 65 years old. [3] Isolated systolic hypertension is a specific type of widened (or high) pulse pressure.
For most people, recommendations are to reduce blood pressure to less than or equal to somewhere between 140/90 mmHg and 160/100 mmHg. [2] In general, for people with elevated blood pressure, attempting to achieve lower levels of blood pressure than the recommended 140/90 mmHg will create more harm than benefits, [3] in particular for older people. [4]
Left ventricular hypertrophy. Hypertensive heart disease is the result of structural and functional adaptations [18] leading to left ventricular hypertrophy, [19] [20] [21] diastolic dysfunction, [18] [20] CHF (Congestive Heart Failure), abnormalities of blood flow due to atherosclerotic coronary artery disease [18] and microvascular disease, [10] [19] and cardiac arrhythmias. [19]
Both high systolic pressure and high pulse pressure (the numerical difference between systolic and diastolic pressures) are risk factors. [49] Elevated pulse pressure has been found to be a stronger independent predictor of cardiovascular events, especially in older populations, than has systolic, diastolic, or mean arterial pressure.
Prehypertension, also known as high normal blood pressure and borderline hypertensive (BH), [1] is a medical classification for cases where a person's blood pressure is elevated above optimal or normal, but not to the level considered hypertension (high blood pressure).