When you have your blood pressure checked, you receive two numbers, such as 120/80. Most people assume that they are both just part of the same measurement and don’t understand what each one represents. It’s important to know the difference because they represent different parts of the heart’s pumping mechanism as well as how good the health of your blood vessels is.Systolic pressure is the amount of work or effort that the heart puts into pushing blood through the arteries when it is contracting. This tells us what kind of workload is put on the heart to pump blood. Diastolic pressure is a measurement of how much pressure is present in the arteries when the heart is relaxed between beats. This period of time is crucial because this is when the muscles of the heart receive blood supply and if the diastolic number is too low or too high it affects the ability of the heart to receive adequate amounts of oxygen.

How age affects the gap between the two numbers

You will notice age affects the two numbers (systolic and diastolic). Tests conducted on people under the age of 50 show that a person’s diastolic value is generally a better predictor of risk since the higher bottom number usually results from increasing resistance through the smaller vessels. In contrast, after age 50, the upper value becomes more significant. With age, the arteries become stiffer meaning the upper number (systolic) tends to be elevated creating a common medical condition known as ‘Isolated Systolic Hypertension.‘Another indication of possible elevated risk is the difference between the two numbers, referred to as pulse pressure. A wide variation of the two numbers indicates that the arteries have likely stiffened and increases the risk of stroke and damage to organs.In order to get a complete and accurate assessment of your heart health, it is important to have both systolic and diastolic numbers taken and discussed with your physician. Failing to consider either number could result in missed opportunities to identify early indications of worsening heart disease.Dr. Binay Kumar Pandey, Senior Consultant & HOD- Interventional Cardiology & Electrophysiology, Yatharth Super Speciality Hospital Faridabad