Blood pressure - what does it all mean?

[Randeep]

Hi there,

Both my Mother and Father have a number of medical issues, in particular they both have problems with their heart and blood pressure. To help monitor, I have purchase a blood pressure machine which captures their:

- systolic reading;
- diastolic reading; and
- pulse.

I have been recording their readings for a month now with a view to create a chart and perhaps identify a trend which we can then analyse and dicsuss next steps (e.g. change in diet, etc.).

Does anybody know where I can find accurate 'average' information so that I can compare their readings to that of a 'healthy' person of the same age/sex?

Also, any other info on what systolic/diastolic/pulse readings actually mean would be very good.

Thanks in advance.

Randeep

[Randeep]

Hi erijon,

Thank you for your response - much appreciated.


Randeep

[erijon]

I have read many threads concerning people that have had heart attacks resulting with low EF percentages and have brought them to normal levels with the proper combination of meds, lifestyle changes and exercise. It depends on many things, your age, how much heart muscle was damaged and your individual risk factors. Have your doctors scheduled a follow up echo or stress test yet to determine your progress?

[sukumar794]

Very informative opinion you have posted here. I had a cardiac attack in October2007. During hospitalization my echo recorded EF as 26%. I am on extensive medication to combat my heart condition(left ventricle dysfunction- poor function). Is there any chance, by this time my EF has improved considerably.Can I live without much fear .

[erijon]

It used to be that normal blood pressure was considered a systolic of your age plus 100 over 80, this is no longer the case. Normal and optimal blood pressure is a systolic of 120 or less and a diastolic of 80 or less. Any readings over 140/90 is consdered high blood pressure which has different stages depending on the actual numbers. Also, a healthy resting heart rate would be in the 65-70 range although anything between 60 and 100 is considered normal.

The systolic number represents the pressure at the beginning of each cycle when the heart pumps. The diastolic number is the presure when the pumping chambers are refilling. When you hear the term diastolic disfunction it means that the heart muscle does not relax properly for the heart's pumping chambers to refill properly which can be due to issues with valves allowing moderate amounts of blood to "regurgitate" back out of the chamber or the walls of the chambers may become thickened and do not relax properly. The number you want to track is the EF percentage which represent the amount of blood that pumps out of the left ventricle with each beat, This is the best indication of how healthy one's heart is. A normal EF is anything between 50 and 75%. This is ususally recorded during an echo of the heart or during a stress test.

Hope this helps, good luck.

Jon