For patients aged over 50, doctors only need to monitor the upper systolic blood pressure, and can ignore the lower diastolic blood pressure reading. As per a report published in the journal The Lancet, patients are not getting their systolic blood pressures adequately controlled because there is such an emphasis on diastolic pressure. The fact is that people over the age of 50 probably do not even need to measure diastolic – it’s only the systolic blood pressure that should be the focus.
Generally, systolic blood pressure continues to increase with age, while diastolic pressure starts to drop after age 50, which is the same time when cardiovascular risk begins to rise. Therefore, there is an increased prevalence of systolic hypertension past age 50, whereas diastolic hypertension is practically nonexistent. Rising systolic pressure is the most significant factor in causing stroke and…
