Blood pressure, an essential measure of cardiovascular health, is typically expressed as two numbers: systolic and diastolic. Understanding these numbers can help in assessing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Systolic Pressure: This is the upper number and represents the pressure when the heart’s ventricles contract and pump blood out.
Diastolic Pressure: The lower number reflects the pressure between heartbeats when the heart refills with blood.
Traditionally, medical research has emphasized the significance of high systolic blood pressure in predicting adverse health outcomes, particularly heart disease and stroke. This focus has led some to downplay the importance of diastolic readings.
However, a recent extensive study conducted by Kaiser Permanente challenges this prevailing notion.
This research, involving over 36 million blood pressure readings from 1.3 million adult members in Northern California over nearly a decade, brings forward some eye-opening findings.
The study found that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements carry substantial weight when it comes to predicting the risk of heart disease or stroke.
While systolic pressure does have a somewhat stronger impact, diastolic pressure also plays a significant role in assessing cardiovascular health.
Surprisingly, this relationship between blood pressure and health outcomes holds true regardless of whether high blood pressure is defined by the conventional threshold of 140/90 mm Hg or the more stringent 130/80 mm Hg threshold.
What does this mean for healthcare guidelines and patient care? It underscores the importance of considering both systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings when evaluating cardiovascular health.
The study’s findings align with recent changes in guidelines, which have recognized the significance of lower blood pressure targets, especially for individuals at higher risk of heart disease.
The researchers, led by Alexander C. Flint, emphasize that both systolic and diastolic blood pressures matter and that striving for lower blood pressure readings is generally beneficial for overall health.
This research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, contributes valuable insights to our understanding of blood pressure’s role in heart disease and stroke risk assessment.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about added sugar in your diet linked to higher blood pressure, and results showing vitamin D could improve blood pressure in people with diabetes.
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