Tracking Systolic Blood Pressure Is All We Need

A new study suggests that tracking systolic blood pressure in patients older than 50 is enough for doctors to evaluate patient's health.

Systolic blood pressure is the pressure in arteries when heart pumps, and diastolic is the pressure when heart rests.

A team of researchers from University of Leicester, Imperial College London, and Sweden's Umea University Hospital suggests that we don't need to keep an eye on both systolic and diastolic measures of blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure monitoring is quite enough for those older than 50.

Those suffering from hypertension are mainly people older than 50 and now they need to track both measures of blood pressure. The study suggests that tracking two numbers together may be confusing for older people, and that systolic pressure gives enough information about health.

The study says: "The use of diastolic pressure for diagnosis and risk analysis in our ageing populations has thus become illogical."

The finding also will make it much easier for drugs to target systolic blood pressure only, rather than two measures together. Drug developers and doctors can target only one measure, which will make their work more successful because systolic pressure is the main cause of hypertension and a plenty of over diseases.