Q.What is blood pressure? How is it measured? Explain factors affecting blood pressure.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Blood pressure is the force blood exerts on vessel walls, measured with a sphygmomanometer as systolic/diastolic mmHg, and shaped by cardiac output, resistance, blood volume/viscosity, vessel length, venous return, ag...
Definition. Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood against the walls of the blood vessels, usually measured in the arteries. Two values matter through the cardiac cycle: systolic pressure (the pressure during ventricular contraction, about 120 mmHg normally) and diastolic pressure (the pressure during ventricular relaxation, about 80 mmHg normally), written together as systolic/diastolic (120/80 mmHg); the difference between them is the pulse pressure (normally about 40 mmHg).
Measurement. Blood pressure is measured with a sphygmomanometer — an inflatable cloth-covered cuff connected by tubing to a mercury manometer on one side and a rubber bulb on the other. With the patient lying down and the cuff at heart level, wrapped around the upper arm, it is inflated until it fully blocks the brachial artery. As the pressure in the cuff is slowly released, the first pulsatile (Korotkoff) sound heard through a stethoscope placed over the artery marks the systolic pressure, and the point where the sound disappears again (blood flow becoming smooth) marks the diastolic pressure. …
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