Blood Pressure in Apparently Healthy Aged 65 to 106 Years

1) A study has been made of the blood pressure in 2,998 males and 2,759 females, 65 to 106 years of age, who were apparently healthy and without known heart disease. 2. The mean blood pressure was 145 82 for men and 156 84 for women. 3. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures do not show a continuous rise with age after 65. In men the peak systolic is 145-146 mm Hg, in women, 159 mm Hg. After the age of 74, the systolic pressure declines slowly in women, but remains essentially constant in men. 4. The mean diastolic pressure shows little variation from ages 65 to 80, and tends to decline thereafter. 5. Frequency distribution curves of systolic and diastolic pressures, at all ages, have the basic pattern of a bell-shaped curve. In both sexes, the curves have a positive skewness larger and more consistent in the systolic than in the diastolic pressures. 6. A single set of blood pressure standards has been computed for each sex, applicable to the entire apparently healthy population from age 65 to over 100. These computations place the middle 80% range (± 1.282 sigma) in males at 115-175/70-95, and females 120-192/65-102; and the middle 95% range (± 2 sigma) in males is 100-190/62-102, in females 100-212/55-112.