Women have a lower “normal” blood pressure range than men, according to a new analysis out of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Blood pressure guidelines may need to be revisited as a result.
For the study, published in Circulation, researchers examined more than 27,000 blood pressure measurements from participants with no history of cardiovascular disease. Data came from multiple studies, including the Framingham Heart Study, and 54% of participants were women.
While 120 mm Hg has long been considered the normal upper limit for adult systolic blood pressure (SBP), the Cedars-Sinai researchers found that a SBP higher than 110 mm Hg meant the individual was at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
“Our latest findings suggest that this one-size-fits-all approach to considering blood pressure may be detrimental to a woman’s health,” senior author Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, MMSc, a professor of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute, said in a statement. “Based on our research results, we recommend that the medical community reassess blood pressure guidelines that do not account for sex differences.”
“If the ideal physiologic range of blood pressure truly is lower for females than males, current approaches to using sex-agnostic targets for lowering elevated blood pressure need to be reassessed,” added Christine Albert, MD, MPH, cardiology chair at the Smidt Heart Institute. “This important work is far-reaching and has numerous clinical implications.”
Cheng et al. plan on taking this research a step further and exploring whether or not women should be treated for hypertension if their SBP is higher than 110 mm Hg.
The full Circulation study is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.