High Blood Pressure - Hypertension Guide

Return to
Taking Blood Pressure
main page

---

Adult Blood Pressure Categories

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends optimal blood pressures of less than 120/80 mm Hg (systolic pressure is 120 AND diastolic pressure is less than 80). The table to the right provides the AHA's blood pressure classifications.

Case studies on hypertension and hypotension with blood pressure simulation.

Blood Pressure Category	Systolic mm Hg (upper #)		Diastolic mm Hg (lower #)
Normal	less than 120	and	less than 80
Prehypertension	120-139	or	80-89
High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) Stage 1	140-159	or	90-99
High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) Stage 2	160 or higher	or	100 or higher
Hypertensive Crisis (Emergency care needed)	Higher than 180	or	Higher than 110

Blood Pressure Measurement in Children

The NIH has published a pocket guide to blood pressure measurement in Children.

Pocket Guide to Blood Pressure Measurement in Children


The NIH states "since diastolic hypertension rarely occurs without systolic hypertension in children, systolic blood pressure tables in the pocket guide can be used for hypertension screening.  Since diastolic HTN rarely occurs without systolic HTN in children, the SBP percentile tables on the next page can
be used for HTN screening. If a child’s SBP on screening is classified as prehypertension or HTN, then both SBP and DBP percentiles should be determined using the tables in the complete report..."  These tables can be downloaded using the link above.

Practice drills for the assessment of hypertension in children.