Systolic Hypertension

When the cuff is fully inflated to a certain maximum pressure, depending on the patient, typically 180 mmHg, no blood flow occurs through the artery. As it is slowly deflated a series of bounding motions can be heard. The first of these numbers will be recorded as the systolic pressure, while the last of these numbers will be recorded as the diastolic pressure. A BP reading, given in mmHg, has two numbers. The upper number, the systolic pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats. The lower number, the diastolic pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries between beats. Some people experience, what is referred to as, “white coat hypertension.” This is a type of hypertension wherein the patient believes the office to be a stressful environment and, as a result, their BP is artificially higher. There are certain prerequisites before getting BP taken: you can neither drink coffee nor smoke cigarettes for half an hour prior, you must use the restroom as bladder volume may influence BP reading, and you must sit for five minutes beforehand. To accurately diagnose someone, the doctor must take separate reading, on different days, at different times. The ABCDE mnemonic can be used to help determine the presence of hypertension: Accuracy of diagnosis, obstructive sleep apnea, aldosteronism, presence of renal artery; Bruits,

The colleagues BP recorded were 125/80mmHg which was normal. NHS Choices (2012) classifies an ideal BP ranges from 90/60mm/Hg and 140/90mmHg. Around 30% of people who live in England have high blood pressure. A BP reading higher than 140/90mmHg is called Hypertension and one lower than 90/60mmHg is called Hypotension. BP reading may vary depending on age, obesity, medications and exercise like running, jogging and jumping. White Coat Syndrome can also affect BP results (Williams, Poulter and Brown 2004).

People who have high blood pressure are putting more strain on the arteries, and this could be dangerous because it could lead to things such as heart attacks and strokes. Blood pressure can be measured by a sphygmomanometer.

As the blood is forced throughout our body, there is a pressure that is exerted on the walls of our arteries, this is known as blood pressure. We see blood pressure represented as two numbers, the systolic (top) and the diastolic (bottom) numbers. The systolic blood pressure is the heart contracting and the diastolic is the heart relaxing. A normal, healthy, blood pressure would be written as 120/80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) or verbally expressed by most individuals as 120 over 80. Our blood pressure can vary depending on many things. When the diastolic or systolic pressure is high, or significantly and consistently above 120/80 mmHg, this is what we call hypertension. There are different stages or degrees of hypertension. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins (2010) describes the stages as the following:

Hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure. A normal blood pressure is 120/80. A blood pressure reading higher or equal to 140/90 is considered abnormally high. Elevated blood pressure means your heart is working harder than normal, putting both your heart and arteries under great strain. High blood pressure is serious business.

Patients that are diagnosed with hypertension usually are unaware of it. Millions of people are sent home to be monitored for twenty-four hours, after finding out. If someone’s blood pressure is enormously high, he may have certain symptoms. Symptoms can vary from nose bleeds, to chest pains, or even an irregular heartbeat. If patients have these symptoms, they should see a doctor immediately. They could be having a hypertensive crisis, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and or death (Mayo Clinic, 2012).

In this essay I will cover the meaning of systolic and diastolic pressure. The range of levels from optimal to poor in relation to blood pressure. I will take my blood pressure as well as my mother’s and discuss the correlations between blood pressure and lifestyle, stress level or activity level. Last, I will discuss how I will incorporate this knowledge in my future training endeavors.

Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD) is an abnormal cardiovascular symptom characterized by a reduction in the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), a measurement of the percentage of blood leaving the heart with each contraction. LVEF is commonly measured using echocardiography and calculated as the ratio between the blood volume exiting the left ventricle over the volume filling the left ventricle. A higher ejection fraction (EF) indicates better strength and contractility of the heart. Recent guidelines from the American and European society of echocardiography have defined an abnormal LVEF as any EF <40-55%.

Convenience sampling was used to recruit patients with reported uncontrolled BP from a Veterans Affairs Medical Center clinic located in Brooklyn and Manhattan (July 2006 to March 2009).

The prevalence of hypertension increases with advancing age; for example, about 50% of people between the ages of 60 and 69 years old have hypertension, and the prevalence is further increased beyond age 70.

Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. Blood pressure is summarized in by two measurements, systolic and diastolic, which depend on whether the heart is muscle is contracting (systole) or relaxed between beats (diastole). Normal blood pressure at rest is within the range of 100-140mmHg systolic (top reading) and 60-90mmHg diastolic (bottom reading). High blood pressure is said to present if it is often at or above 140/90 mmHg. For most cases of mild to moderate hypertension there are no symptoms. The condition has

This policy change was the implementation of the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the management of hypertension in primary care. This policy stipulates that the diagnosis of hypertension will be determined by blood pressure (BP) readings on two separate patient visits, and a minimum of two BP measurements should be performed during a patient visit when the initial blood pressure reading is greater than 120/80 mmHg (Health Quality VHA, 2004). The data collection measures were appropriate as it showed a percentage of practitioners were omitting a second blood pressure reading. In order to make an appropriate clinical decision in the management of hypertension an accurate measurement of blood pressure reading must be obtained. An inaccurate

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a common worldwide condition that is often asymptomatic and often undetected. When the left ventricle contracts it forces blood up and into the aorta distributing oxygenated blood throughout the body. The arterial pressures are exerted for this to occur effectively. Pressures rise and fall in response to baroreceptors that make note of the filling and emptying chambers of the heart. Systolic pressure should measure 120 mm Hg and diastolic 80 mm Hg. The difference between

The presentation of unwarranted hypertension in any individual medically denotes recognition and should be monitored. To be recognized as “hypertension” different criteria need to be met for different individuals. According to “The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure” a patient is considered pre-hypertensive with a systolic BP between 120-139 mmHg or a diastolic BP between 80-89 mm Hg (Chobanian, et al. 2003). For individuals older than 50 years of age, reaching a systolic BP above 140 mmHg greatly increases an individual’s risk for cardiovascular disease

The rise in systolic blood pressure with ageing is mainly caused by an increase in vascular stiffness of the great arteries in combination with atherosclerotic changes in the vessel wall. Systolic blood pressure rises more steeply in ageing women compared with men, and this may be related to the hormonal changes during menopause. Several other hormone-related factors have an additive effect on the increase in blood pressure during menopausal transition (Maas and Franke, 2009).