What is normal blood pressure by age and gender?

What is normal blood pressure by age and gender?

There is no such thing as normal blood pressure (BP).

But there is a normal range for a man or woman at a certain age. So peoples’ optimal (target) blood pressure will change through life.

Why does high blood pressure matter? It can increase the risk of many health problems, including CKD, IHD and stroke.

These normal ranges are approximately true.

This is similar information in graphic form.

As you can see from the chart, and graphs (from the USA), above – age and gender affect BP in the following ways:

• Blood pressure increases with age, and it is normal for arteries to become stiffer as people get older
• Normal BP goes up with age and is generally higher in men. When women hit the menopause BP starts to align with men (as do its risks)
• Hence, for people over 75 years, the ideal blood pressure is under 150/90 mmHg – as more BP is needed to keep the brain supplied with blood
• The pulse pressure – i.e. difference between the systolic (upper number) and diastolic (lower number) – also rises through life. It can be 40 mmHg at 20 years, and 70 mmHg at 80 years
• A blood pressure reading of 180/120 mm Hg or higher is considered a hypertensive crisis and requires rapid medical attention (today).

OK OK MyHSN. But what is normal, high or low for most adults most of the time?

This is how we would answer that question.

Note 1. These numbers are ‘too neat’ to be true. But they are about right
Note 2. As BP also changes minute-to-minute in any individual person, and is affected by time of day (circadian rhythm), it is important not to react to one reading. It’s the pattern that matters.

Summary

We have described what is normal blood pressure by age and gender. We hope it has been helpful.

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What is normal blood pressure?