Groups will be reviewing that data to decide how they might change current recommendations.Next Page Creating Free Blood Pressure Chart Template, Printable, Download New data from that study was released last month. In September, federal health officials abruptly ended a large study of adults 50 and older at high risk for heart disease when it became clear that lowering their systolic pressure to under 120 rather than 140 dramatically cut the risk of heart attack, heart failure and Elliott Antman, the heart association’s immediate past president, said, “we might allow the blood pressure to creep up to 150.”īut treatment recommendations for everyone could soon become more aggressive. The American College of Cardiology still recommends getting blood pressure below 140/90 in people up to 80 years old, and the American Heart Association says blood pressure should be under 140/90 until aboutĪge 75, at which point, Dr. James, the first author.īut patients 60 or older who already take medication to get their pressure below 140/90 should not change course, he said. Recommended that people 60 and older whose pressure is over 140/90 but less than 150/90 could take other steps like losing weight, exercising and reducing salt intake, said Dr. Those guidelines, published in the journal JAMA, Last year, a panel of experts relaxed recommendations for people 60 and older, saying drug treatment should only start at pressures of 150/90. The measurements in between are considered prehypertension.Įxperts disagree about whether older patients should be treated with medication to get their blood pressure below 140/90, because that often requires using several drugs, which may interact with other medications,Īnd the treatment can cause dizziness and increase the risk of falls. A healthy blood pressure would be below both these numbers, indicating a low risk of heart attacks and stroke. The bottom number, 80, is diastolic pressure, when the heart is at rest between beats. The top number, 120, is systolic pressure, when the heart beats and is pumping blood. Normal blood pressure is a reading below 120/80. While there is debate over how aggressively high blood pressure should be treated in older patients, the definition of a healthy blood pressure does not change with age for the general population.

Senior blood pressure chart