Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Blood Pressure |
Blood PressureNoun1. The pressure of the circulating blood against the walls of the blood vessels; results from the systole of the left ventricle of the heart; sometimes measured for a quick evaluation of a person's health; "adult blood pressure is considered normal at 120/80 where the first number is the systolic pressure and the second is the diastolic pressure". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Health | The pressure of blood against the walls of a blood vessel or heart chamber. Unless there is reference to another location, such as the pulmonary artery or one of the heart chambers, it refers to the pressure in the systemic arteries, as measured, for example, in the forearm. (references) |
| The pressure exerted on the walls of the arteries during the contraction phase of the heart. (references) | |
Medicine | The pressure of the blood against the walls of the blood vessels. The term usually refers to the pressure of the blood within the arteries, or arterial blood pressure. Source: European Union. (references) |
Military & Defense | An activity which may take the form of a map exercise, a war game, a series of lectures, a discussion group, or an operational analysis. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Blood pressure is the pressure (force per unit area) exerted by the blood on the walls of the blood vessels. Unless indicated otherwise, blood pressure refers to the pressure in the large arteries, such as the brachial artery (in the arm). The pressure of the blood in other blood vessels differs from the arterial pressure. Measurement of pressures in the venous system and the pulmonary vessels plays an important role in intensive care medicine but requires invasive techniques.
Measurement
Arterial blood pressure is usually measured in millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) using a sphygmomanometer. This is an inflatable cuff placed around the upper arm, at roughly the same vertical height as the heart in a sitting person, attached to a manometer. The cuff is inflated until the artery is completely occluded. Listening with a stethoscope to the brachial artery at the elbow, the examiner slowly releases the pressure in the cuff. When bloodflow barely begins again in the artery, a "whooshing" or pounding sound is heard. The pressure is noted at which this sound began. This is the systolic blood pressure. The cuff pressure is further released until the sound can no longer be heard. This is the diastolic blood pressure. The peak pressure in the arteries during the cardiac cycle is the systolic pressure, and the lowest pressure (at the resting phase of the cardiac cycle) is the diastolic pressure.Normal ranges for blood pressure in adult humans are:
In children the observed normal ranges are lower, in the elderly, they are higher.
- Systolic between 90 and 135 mmHg
- Diastolic between 50 and 90 mmHg
Problems
If the blood pressure exceeds these normal values, one speaks of arterial hypertension. Blood pressure that is too low is known as hypotension.Any level of blood pressure puts mechanical stress on the arterial walls. The higher the pressure, the more stress that is present. At branch points in blood vessels, this stress becomes a shearing force, capable of injuring the tender lining of the blood vessels, the endothelium. Elevated shearing force on the endothelium, along with other factors (nutritional, inflammatory, toxic) may contribute to the development of atherosclerosis.
When blood pressure is very low, the perfusion of the brain may be critically decreased (i.e. the blood supply is not sufficient), causing lightheadedness, weakness and fainting. Sometimes the blood pressure drops significantly when a patient stands up. This is known as orthostatic hypotension. Other causes of low blood pressure include:
Shock is a complex condition which leads to critically decreased blood perfusion. Low blood pressure is a sign of shock and can also contribute to further decreasing perfusion.
- Sepsis
- Hemorrhage
- Toxins including toxic doses of blood pressure medicine
- Hormone abnormalities, such as Addison's disease
See also: Vital sign, Pulse rate
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Blood pressure."
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I have high blood pressure on my right side and low blood pressure on my left side (A Day at the Races; writing credit: Robert Pirosh; George Seaton) Miriam! I have to take your blood pressure! (Awakenings; writing credit: Steven Zaillian) Well your blood pressure is off the scale, if you call that green stuff in your veins blood (Star Trek; writing credit: Walter Black; William Hamilton) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Pictured is an adult black male patient and a nurse wearing a lab coat. She is testing him for high blood pressure and they are both looking at the indication on the measuring instrument. The patient may require the use of a drug to control his high blood pressure. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer). |  | A female physician takes the blood pressure of a black woman patient. There is also a head shot of the patient. See artwork: GR-42. Credit: Bill Branson (photographer). |
 | Residents of a Bombay suburb gather ... during a community survey on high blood pressure. / WHO p. Credit: National Library of Medicine; photo by A.S. Kochar.. |  | Self Balancing And Blood Pressure Test : School Of Aviation Medicine. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | [Doctor checking the blood pressure of a patient] / P. Credit: National Library of Medicine; photo by Walter T. Cocker.. |  | High blood pressure...you can't tell by the way you feel : High Blood Pressure...Treat it for Life. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | So you think you've been cured of high blood pressure : High Blood Pressure...Treat it for Life. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Think you know what "hypertension" means? : High Blood Pressure...Treat it for Life. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | Tie It On At Work. : Check for High Blood Pressure. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | High blood pressure : what you should know. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Control your blood pressure. (references) | |
Controlling your blood pressure. (references) | ||
This medicine helps control blood pressure. (references) | ||
Business | Many pharmacies also offer checks for anemia, allergies, blood glucose, and blood pressure. (references) | |
Economic History | Kuwait | Kuwait imports a wide range of drugs and pharmaceuticals - especially, drugs for the treatment of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. (references) |
Norway | Best prospects for U.S. suppliers are still drugs associated with the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, gastric ulcers, asthma, allergy, depression, and pain relief. (references) | |
Pakistan | There is good market potential for antibiotics, vaccines, therapeutic medicines, analgesics, tranquilizers, hormones, blood pressure control drugs, anti-ulcerants, drugs for the treatment of cardiac conditions, cancer, psychiatric drugs, contraceptives and birth control prescriptions. (references) | |
Human Rights | Lebanon | In November 2000, one SLA detainee, Redwan Shakib Ibrahim, died of cancer and another SLA detainee, Barakat al'Amil, died of complications resulting from high blood pressure. (references) |
Travel | Ecuador | Travelers to Quito may require some time to adjust to the altitude (close to 10,000 feet), which can adversely affect blood pressure, digestion and energy level. (references) |
Colombia | Altitude: Travelers to Bogotá may require some time to adjust to the altitude (8,600 feet), which can adversely affect blood pressure, digestion and energy level. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
Expressions using "blood pressure": blood pressure apparatus ♦ blood pressure cuff ♦ Blood Pressure Determination ♦ Blood pressure disturbances ♦ Blood Pressure Drugs ♦ blood pressure monitor ♦ Blood Pressure Monitors ♦ Diastolic blood pressure ♦ high blood pressure ♦ low blood pressure ♦ Mean blood pressure ♦ Systolic blood pressure. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "blood pressure"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | tensioni i gjakut, tension gjaku. (various references) | |
Arabic | ضغط الدم. (various references) | |
Chinese | 血" . (various references) | |
Danish | blodtryk. (various references) | |
Dutch | bloeddruk. (various references) | |
Finnish | verenpaine. (various references) | |
French | tension artérielle. (various references) | |
German | blutdruck. (various references) | |
Greek | πίεση του αίματος, αρτηριακή πίεση. (various references) | |
Italian | pressione sanguigna, pressione del sangue, pressione arteriosa. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 血圧 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | けつあつ. (various references) | |
Manx | trimmid folley, broo-folley. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | oodblay essurepray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | tensão arterial, pressão arterial. (various references) | |
Romanian | tensiune arterialã (arterial tension). (various references) | |
Russian | кровяное давление. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | krvni pritisak. (various references) | |
Spanish | tensión arterial. (various references) | |
Swedish | blodtryck. (various references) | |
Turkish | tansiyon, kan basıncı. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | huyết áp. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Blood Pressure" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: blood preasure, blood presure, boold pressure. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-d-e-e-l-o-o-p-r-r-s-s-u" | |
-2 letters: uredospores. | |
-3 letters: purebloods, uredospore. | |
-4 letters: bespoused, delousers, deplorers, depressor, orderless, peloruses, preluders, pressured, pureblood, purebreds, redoubles, repulsers, resolders, solderers, suborders. | |
-5 letters: bedsores, bespouse, bloopers, boodlers, bordures, boulders, bourrees, brooders, burseeds, delouser, delouses, deplorer, deplores, deposers, doorless, doublers, espoused, espouser, lordoses, odorless, perdures, perusers, prebless, preluder, preludes, pressure, purebred, redouble, reposers, repoured, repousse, reprobed, reprobes. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
