Is a Blood Pressure Reading of 112 Over 54 Good or Bad

The blood force per unit area cuff tightens around your arm. As it deflates, your doc'due south eyebrow lifts slightly. And so comes the bad news. Your blood pressure is elevated.

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This year, millions of Americans will be diagnosed with hypertension. The older y'all are, the greater the likelihood that your numbers will climb into the danger zone, commonly idea to exist a systolic pressure (the upper number) of 140 or higher, or a diastolic pressure (the lower number) of 90 or more.

Claret Pressure at 65+

A hypertension diagnosis should be based on multiple readings. — Science Photo Library/Getty Images

While a blood pressure reading of 120/lxxx is considered to be the norm for near adults, an practiced panel convened by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Centre Association (AHA) recommends the post-obit measurements for older people:

Age 65 to 79: 140/xc or less

Historic period 80+: 140/ninety to 145/90

• New treatment guidelines for loftier blood pressure. Read

But as y'all age, the story those numbers tell about your health tin be very unlike from the one they conveyed when you were a decade or two younger.

Unfortunately, "many doctors are ill-prepared to care for loftier blood pressure in older people," says Dr. Joseph L. Izzo, professor of medicine at the Land University of New York at Buffalo and a leading expert on hypertension.

Some older people are being given blood force per unit area drugs that may be dangerous for them. Others are being undertreated — or overtreated.

"On the wrong dosages of medication, older people are at risk of fainting and falling," says Dr. Alexander Thou. Logan, a hypertension expert at Mount Sinai Infirmary in Toronto. "And when a delicate older person falls, it can be devastating."

What tin can you do to ensure that your blood pressure is existence treated appropriately? A proficient place to start is by request your medico a direct question:

Practise I really accept high blood pressure?

One claret pressure reading, done in a doctor'southward office, isn't plenty to diagnose hypertension.

"Blood force per unit area changes every second of the day," says Dr. Sharon Brangman, a professor of medicine at the Land University of New York at Buffalo and president of the American Geriatric Society.

Most people's numbers are higher during the 24-hour interval and lower during slumber. Stress tin can boost blood pressure. Then can eating a big repast.

Doctors have long been familiar with the phenomenon of "white coat hypertension" — the tendency for some people'southward blood pressure to shoot upwards when information technology's tested in a dr.'southward part. But the opposite can also happen. Blood pressure readings may be perfectly normal at the physician's office and elevated every bit before long equally the person gets home, a condition called "masked hypertension."

Side by side: How practise you lot know if you really take high blood force per unit area? »

So how do y'all know if you really take high blood force per unit area?

Starting time, make sure that the part reading is washed correctly. "Readings should be taken simply later on you've been sitting or lying down for five or ten minutes — not just later on you've raced into the office," Brangman says.

It'southward besides a good thought for your doctor to get a second reading later you stand. (Equally you lot get older, the mechanism that increases blood pressure automatically when y'all exit of bed or a chair tin can become less responsive, making you prone to falls. This is a condition called orthostatic hypotension.)

If your office numbers are indeed high, ask your doctor about a home claret pressure monitor. These easy-to-utilise devices allow yous to test your own blood pressure at various times during the twenty-four hours, which can help your dr. rule out both white coat hypertension and masked hypertension.

<p>&quot;Up until about 10 years ago, doctors just paid attention to diastolic hypertension. At present we know it's actually systolic hypertension that matters in older people.&quot;</p>

In some cases, doctors recommend ambulatory blood pressure testing, using a device that automatically takes readings of claret pressure over a 24-hour period. Convalescent testing can place people whose pressure doesn't autumn during the night, as information technology should. This phenomenon, called "not-dipping," becomes more common as people age and has been shown to increase cardiovascular and stroke chance.

What should my numbers be?

Loftier blood pressure in older people is very different from the condition in eye age.

"When people develop high blood force per unit area in center age, the trouble is typically elevated diastolic pressure, which is indicated by the lower number," says Izzo. Ideally, the goal is to bring the numbers down close to a normal reading of 120/lxxx.

Once you hit age 60, though, it's the upper number — the systolic pressure — that tin actually climb, causing business concern. Systolic hypertension occurs when the arteries close to the heart brainstorm to stiffen, making them less responsive to blood flow.

"In a sense, yous take almost two forms of hypertension," Logan says. "Upwardly until almost 10 years ago, doctors but paid attention to diastolic hypertension. At present we know information technology'south really systolic hypertension that matters in older people."

Further, many older people develop a condition called broad pulse pressure level, in which diastolic pressure level drops even as systolic pressure climbs. The widening gap betwixt the upper and lower numbers has been shown to be an independent take a chance gene for middle disease and stroke.

It also poses a tricky challenge for doctors. Drugs that lower systolic blood pressure typically bring down diastolic blood pressure, as well. If that number is already depression, medications tin testify risky.

Next: Do y'all really need medication? »

Practice I really demand medication?

Doctors need to tread carefully when treating older adults for hypertension, explains Logan. "Chronological age is less important than overall health," he says. "I'd treat a very healthy 80-year-old every bit I would whatsoever [middle-anile] hypertensive. But in many older people, the target needs to exist advisedly adjusted to avoid complications."

High blood pressure increases the risk of heart assault and stroke, but very low blood force per unit area is dangerous, too, he points out. Abnormally low diastolic pressure, for instance, means not enough blood is flowing back to the heart. That can deprive the middle of oxygen, causing it to enlarge, and tin can rob the brain of blood.

Foods That Fight Hypertension

Yes, a baked potato is proficient for your claret pressure — Brian Hagiwara/Getty Images

Many of the foods you already enjoy — blueberries, cereal, baked potatoes — tin can help lower your blood force per unit area.

• 6 fabled foods that fight loftier blood pressure. Read
  

In someone with a wide pulse pressure, getting systolic pressure downwards without driving diastolic pressure level too low tin become a real balancing act.

"Permit's say a patient has 160/lx," says Dr. Howard Southward. Weintraub, associate professor of medicine and managing director of the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Illness at New York Academy Langone Medical Center. "You tin't become whatsoever further in those individuals or you may come across unwanted consequences of depression diastolic blood pressure."

Doctors also accept to be cautious about treating people who are hypertensive but have transient depression blood pressure when they stand. Bringing overall blood pressure downward may increment the danger of falls.

Despite the challenges of treating hypertension in older patients, researchers emphasize the importance of controlling high blood pressure.

"If you can take someone with a systolic claret force per unit area of 180 and get it downwardly to 150, you knock the tar out of the stroke rate," says Izzo. And especially as people go older, a stroke can prove much more than baleful than heart disease.

What are the all-time drugs for me?

Medications that piece of work well for younger people with hypertension can be unsafe in older patients. Experts caution against using beta blockers, such every bit Inderal or Toprol XL, in older people because they may boring already sluggish heart rates.

Adjacent: Managing your claret pressure level without meds. »

Managing Your Blood Force per unit area Without Meds

Your blood pressure tin vary based on whether you're sitting, standing or lying downwards. — Caterina Bernardi/Corbis

If your blood pressure isn't also loftier, you may exist able to bring it downward without having to accept pills. The prescription:

• Eat more fruits and vegetables (at least five servings a 24-hour interval)
• Cull depression-fat dairy products
• Cut back on salt (for instance, reach for low-salt packaged foods and avoid salty snacks such every bit pretzels)
• Get easy on sugary foods and beverages, such as soft drinks, candies and pastries.
• Appoint in a concrete activity, such as brisk walking, for thirty minutes most days of the week
• Lose a little weight if you lot're overweight (even but a few pound will assistance)
  

Studies show that this combination of salubrious habits tin lower the risk of getting high blood pressure and bring moderately elevated numbers dorsum down.

While some experts prefer using a single agent at a dose loftier enough to bring the numbers into line, others favor a combination — a diuretic paired with an ACE inhibitor, for case, or a diuretic combined with a CCB (calcium channel blocker).  Several of the nigh common pairings now come in combination pill forms, which cut down on the number of pills needed — an important advantage for anyone taking multiple medications.

Recent findings suggest that CCBs may offer a special advantage for older patients. Researchers have long assumed that controlling high blood pressure would lower the take chances of retention issues and dementia in older people. But few studies found whatever significant benefit. Last year, all the same, in a study of 375 hypertensive patients 60 and older, researchers at Nancy University Hospital in France reported that people on CCBs showed improvement in memory scores. By contrast, those who took other types of drugs for their high blood pressure showed no retentiveness gains.

Any your physician prescribes, chances are your regimen volition need to exist adjusted over fourth dimension. And even though you lot may need to take medication, researchers all concur that it's important to follow the familiar communication: minimize salt intake, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, maintain a good for you weight and be equally physically active as possible.

"All of those changes can hateful y'all can get by on less medication, which means fewer side effects," says Weintraub. "And in many ways also lowering blood pressure, you'll exist a lot healthier."

Peter Jaret is a frequent contributor to AARP. He has written seven books, most recently "Nurse: A Globe of Care."

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Source: https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-05-2011/high-blood-pressure-older-adults.html