G
B
The systolic (‘the high blood pressure’) states the pressure when the heart
chambers contract to send blood through your body, and the systolic (‘the low
blood pressure’) states the pressure when the heart is at ease and filling with
blood before the next muscle contraction. The connection between values
(mmHg) is expressed as e.g. 130 over 85 which means that the systolic
pressure is 130 and the diastolic pressure is 85.
Why is it important to keep an eye on your blood pressure?
Many of today’s most common diseases are connected to hypertension , also
referred to as ‘high blood pressure’. Hypertension is closely connected to
cardiovascular diseases, and for people in the danger zone the blood pressure
provides an important tool to keep an eye on the development.
Standard for blood pressure
The WHO blood pressure standard defines the areas for high and low blood
pressure. The standard is for guidance only as individual blood pressure levels
vary from person to person, across age groups, etc.
3
Symbol
World Health
Organisation
Classification
SYS
(mmHg)
DIA
(mmHg)
Optimal
<
120
<
80
Normal
120-129
80-84
High Normal
130-139
85-89
Hypertension
grade 1
140-159
90-99
Hypertension
grade 2
160-179
100-109
Hypertension
grade 3
≥
180
≥
100
Blood pressure levels and categories for adults
The standard is valid for nonmedicated persons over 18 years of age who do
not suffer from serious short term diseases or other diseases such as diabetes
or kidney diseases. If the reading falls inside two groups (e.g. the systolic
number within grade 2 and the diastolic number within grade 1), the highest
number is used for classification (and the example thus falls within grade 2).
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