In most westernized cultures blood pressure rises with age but this trend depends on gender, race and initial level of blood pressure, as well as on an individual’s genetic background and environmental.
Systolic and diastolic blood pressures are approximately 70 to 50 mmHg respectively at birth. Systolic blood pressure on average rises to 94 mmHg at the end of the 1st year, and diastolic blood pressure to 52mmHg. Blood pressure is then unchanged for the next 2-3 years but rises through out childhood and adolescence. Systolic blood pressure (1-2 mmHg) rises more rapidly than diastolic blood pressure so that pulse pressure slowly increases during childhood. Blood pressure in both sexes remains the same until teenage years when girl’s blood pressure rise more slowly than boy’s, so that by 18 years boys have a blood pressure 10mmHg systolic and 5 mmHg diastolic higher than girls.
During adulthood both systolic and diastolic blood pressure rise steadily, although systolic tends to increase more rapidly than diastolic. The age related rise in blood pressure in adults is slightly steeper for women so that by the 7th decade blood pressure in the two sexes is equal: beyond this age it is slightly higher than women. While some of this differential may be explained by selective survival of women with higher blood pressures, the longitudinal study indicates that the same difference is seen in individuals. Similar longitudinal studies indicate that the flattening and slight fall in diastolic blood pressure observed in the elderly is also genuine sequential change.
Blood Pressure and Age Relationship
