Hi, thank you for your question. Blood pressure reading gives you 2 numbers. The first number tells you the systolic blood pressure, while the second one represents the diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure is the pressure in the artery when the heart contracts and pumps blood to other parts of the body. Diastolic blood pressure is the pressure in the artery when the heart relaxes and fills with blood.

At the moment, evidence from studies shows that systolic blood pressure has a more important role compared to diastolic blood pressure, because it it tells you the risk of developing a heart attack or stroke. Systolic blood pressure increases as you grow older as a result of buildup of plaques in arteries and heardening of arteries.

We know that the higher the blood pressure, the higher the risk of developing medical conditions, such as heart attacks or strokes. But, if your only your systolic blood pressure is elevated and your diastolic blood pressure is normal, you have a condition known as isolated systolic hypertension. This condition puts you at a higher risk of developing these medical conditions.

However, there are instances where diastolic blood pressure is more important than systolic blood pressure. There are studies that shows that diastolic blood pressure may be more superior when it comes to assessing risk in people below the age of 40. But, this result may be inaccurate because young people have lower risk of developing these medical conditions.

Diastolic blood pressure can be important if it is abnormally high.
Although systolic blood pressure is said to be more important, both raised systolic and diastolic blood pressure can be used to diagnose hypertension.

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