7 Essential Blood Pressure Charts for Every Age Group

Blood pressure is a critical indicator of an individual’s overall health, and maintaining it within the normal range is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Blood pressure readings are classified based on various components like systolic and diastolic pressures, pulse pressure, and mean arterial pressure. Understanding the recommended ranges can help individuals take appropriate measures to maintain their blood pressure and seek medical attention when necessary.

Checking blood pressure is important for all ages because the readings vary. Keeping track of your blood pressure according to the blood pressure chart is essential for a healthy life. Making a few key changes in your lifestyle, such as maintaining a healthy diet and undertaking regular physical activity, not only helps prevent high blood pressure and its complications but also protects long-term heart health.

What Is Blood Pressure?

When the heart pumps, blood is forced through the arteries to carry nutrients and oxygen to the body’s organs and tissues. This force is known as blood pressure. Your organs must function normally and not sustain damage if your blood pressure is within normal limits.

Your blood pressure may vary depending on your age, health, and other lifestyle factors. Monitoring these values is crucial because sudden changes in blood pressure, whether high or low, can indicate a medical condition and have major repercussions on your health, including a higher risk of premature death.

What Is Hypertension?

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, occurs when the blood in the body presses harder against the artery walls. Higher pressure causes the artery walls to enlarge beyond what is normally seen, which can lead to serious problems like a heart attack or stroke. 

There are two common methods used to measure blood pressure:

• Systolic Pressure: Systolic blood pressure refers to the pressure that blood flow on artery walls creates during a heartbeat. Systolic blood pressure is typically 120 mm Hg.
• Diastolic Pressure: The pressure that blood flow puts on artery walls in the interval between heartbeats is known as diastolic blood pressure, which typically ranges around 80 mm Hg.

A person’s normal blood pressure reading should not exceed 120/80 mm Hg. You should see your physician if your reading exceeds this range.

About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. has high blood pressure, but many don’t realize it. High blood pressure is sometimes called a “silent killer” because it usually has no warning signs, yet it can lead to life-threatening conditions like a heart attack or stroke. The good news is that high blood pressure, or hypertension, can often be prevented or treated. Early diagnosis and simple, healthy changes can keep high blood pressure from seriously damaging your health.

Here is a high-blood pressure chart below: 

Stages of Hypertension	Systolic Range	Diastolic Range
Elevated	120-129 mm Hg	Less than 80
Stage 1 hypertension	130-139 mm Hg	80-89 mm Hg
Stage 2 hypertension	140 mm Hg and up	90 mm Hg and up
Hypertensive crisis	180 mm Hg and up	120 mm Hg and up

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What is Hypotension?

When blood pressure is significantly lower than normal, it is known as hypotension or low blood pressure. It can occur as a standalone ailment or as a symptom of various illnesses. It might not show any symptoms, but if it does, you might require medical assistance. The number of people affected by low blood pressure cannot be determined because it is a common condition without any symptoms. 

Depending on the cause, hypotension can impact individuals of any age and background. It is most likely to affect 5% of persons over 50 years and over 30% of those over 70 years. People over 50, however, are more likely to experience symptoms. It can also happen to highly physically active people without any symptoms, which is more common in younger people.

Here is a low blood pressure chart below: 

Age	Low Systolic Range	Low Diastolic Range
Newborn to 1 month	< 45 mm Hg	< 30 mm Hg
One to 12 months	< 65 mm Hg	< 35 mm Hg
Young child (1–5 years)	< 80 mm Hg	< 55 mm Hg
Adolescent (14–18 years)	< 90 mm Hg	< 50 mm Hg
Adult (19–40 years)	< 95 mm Hg	< 60 mm Hg
Adult (41–60 years)	< 110 mm Hg	< 70 mm Hg
Older adults (61 and older)	< 95 mm Hg	< 70 mm Hg

Influence of Blood Pressure with Age

High blood pressure impacts numerous conditions, such as cognitive decline and cardiovascular disease. Numerous studies conducted in Western nations have tracked adults over time to examine the relationship between aging and changes in blood pressure. Although there is general agreement that blood pressure rises with age, several potential contributing factors include diet, environmental pollutants, and artery structural integrity. This increase in blood pressure is typically linked to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, while lower blood pressure means a decreased chance of developing coronary heart disease.

Several investigations have demonstrated that blood pressure charts by age, mirroring the physiological changes brought on by aging. Blood pressure typically rises in childhood and adolescence in direct proportion to the cardiovascular system’s growth and development. However, blood pressure variations are more significant to monitor in adulthood and later life.

Blood Pressure Chart

An extended period of high blood pressure can cause major health issues, but normal blood pressure ranges vary throughout the day based on different activities. The two components of blood pressure measurement are diastolic blood pressure, measured between heartbeats during relaxation, and systolic blood pressure, measured during the heart’s contraction phase. Professionals may use different criteria; for example, some may classify a blood pressure reading as hypertensive when it consistently remains at 140/90 mmHg or greater, while for others, the threshold might be 130/80 mmHg.

You can find an age-based normal blood pressure chart below.

Age Group	Normal Systolic Range	Normal Diastolic Range
Newborn to 1 month	45–80 mm Hg	30–55 mm Hg
One to 12 months	65–100 mm Hg	35–65 mm Hg
Young child (1–5 years)	80–115 mm Hg	55–80 mm Hg
Adolescent (14–18 years)	90–120 mm Hg	50–80 mm Hg
Adults 19-40 years	95–135 mm Hg	60–80 mm Hg
Adult (41–60 years)	110–145 mm Hg	70–90 mm Hg
Older adults (61 and older)	95–145 mm Hg	70–90 mm Hg

Here is a chart that shows blood pressure by race/ethnicity: 

Race	Ethnicity
White	122/71 mm Hg
Black	127/73 mm Hg
Mexican American	123/70 mm Hg

Below are some additional details regarding blood pressure for various age groups:

• Young Adults (18-39 years): Most people in this age group have blood pressures that are within the normal range. Routinely checking blood pressure is essential to finding any potential anomalies. However in case of extremely low BP in a child, pediatric advanced life support (PALS) provides a systemic approach in assessing and treating an ill or injured child.
• Middle-aged Adults (40-59 years): People may experience a progressive rise in blood pressure as they get closer to middle age. Lifestyle changes like diet and exercise are essential to maintain a healthy blood pressure profile during this stage.
• Older Adults (60+ years): As one age, blood pressure typically rises even higher. Since uncontrolled high blood pressure can result in major complications like heart disease and stroke, monitoring blood pressure becomes even more important.

Here is a pediatric blood pressure chart for a better understanding of BP in children:  

Age	Awake BP Rate	Sleeping BP Rate
Neonate (<28 d)	100-165	90-160
Infant (1 mo-1 y)	100-150	90-160
Toddler (1-2 y)	70-110	80-120
Preschool (3-5 y)	65-110	65-100
School-age (6-11 y)	60-95	58-90
Adolescent (12-15 y)	55-85	50-90

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Potential Risk Factors for Blood Pressure by Age

Blood pressure rises with age as the vessels naturally thicken and stiffen over time. Many factors raise your risk of high blood pressure. While you can change some risk factors, such as unhealthy lifestyle habits, risk factors such as family history, age, genetics, race and ethnicity, and sex cannot be changed. However, you can still take steps to reduce your risk of high blood pressure and its complications. The following section discusses a few possible issues with blood pressure according to age.

• Young Adults and Adolescents

Increased blood pressure is one of the many physiological changes that can happen during puberty. Changes impacting physical development, bad eating habits, and sedentary lifestyles contribute to this hormone spike. Increased obesity rates and a lack of physical activity may also be contributing factors to the rise in hypertension cases in this age group. These patterns highlight the importance of promoting healthy lifestyle choices and initiating preventive measures early to reduce the likelihood that adolescent hypertension may develop.

• Middle-Aged Adults

Middle-aged adults usually experience a gradual rise in blood pressure due to changes in their blood vessels and the elastic properties of these vessels brought on by aging. Hypertension, a significant risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular consequences, may develop if the blood pressure rise is not managed. Maintaining optimal blood pressure levels at this stage of life necessitates regular blood pressure checks, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and stress reduction.

• Elderly People

Blood pressure increases with age because of alterations in arterial walls and reduced elasticity. Growing older can cause blood pressure to increase, which raises the risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, and renal impairment. Strong evidence suggests that treating older adults with hypertension can significantly reduce these risks. To lessen the detrimental effects of age-related blood pressure variations on older people’s health, it is crucial to emphasize routine blood pressure checks, individualized treatment plans, and lifestyle changes.

Factors That Affect Blood Pressure 

Studies have shown that ethnicity may predict blood pressure, but this relationship may be more sociocultural than biological. When assessing the risk of hypertension, ethnicity must be considered a contributing factor. A few of the variables are diurnal rhythm, medication use, disease processes, age, sex, ethnicity, weight, exercise, emotions/stress, and pregnancy. Some of the main factors are discussed below:

• Blood pressure generally rises with age, indicating that older adults typically experience higher BP variations.
• Males and females have comparable blood pressure during childhood. After puberty, male blood pressure is higher, but after menopause, female blood pressure is higher than male blood pressure.
• Blood pressure rises in the morning and falls in the afternoon and early evening. Moreover Blood pressure also varies with height. To know the ideal BP, one should check an online blood pressure chart by age and height.
• Obese individuals may have higher blood pressure because their hearts must work harder to pump blood throughout their bodies.
• Exercise, stress, anxiety, pain, rage, and fear all activate the sympathetic nervous system, raising blood pressure. Five minutes after an activity, blood pressure returns to baseline.
• Blood pressure fluctuates during pregnancy. It diminishes from the middle of the first trimester until mid-pregnancy due to progesterone’s ability to relax blood vessel walls and lower peripheral vascular resistance. Towards the end of the pregnancy, it reverts to its pre-pregnancy levels.

What is White Coat Syndrome?

When your blood pressure is high at the doctor’s office but normal at home, it is known as “white coat syndrome.” A normal blood pressure reading is less than 80 millimeters at the bottom and less than 120 millimeters at the top. In other words, a patient’s high rise in blood pressure due to anxiety or nervousness is known as white coat syndrome.

People with white coat syndrome may have slightly higher blood pressure than those without the syndrome. If a person has diabetes, a history of heart attacks, or other risk factors, they are deemed high-risk. Rather than causing white coat hypertension, these risk factors might make them more vulnerable.

The following individuals have a higher likelihood of having white coat syndrome:

• Are older than 50 years.
• Diagnosed with hypertension.
• Obesity.
• Use tobacco products.

Maintaining Healthy Blood Pressure for a Better Life

Understanding the blood pressure chart by age and gender is instrumental in comprehending normal ranges and their implications for overall health. By using this knowledge, individuals can take proactive steps to monitor and maintain healthy blood pressure profiles, potentially minimizing the risks associated with cardiovascular diseases. Healthcare professionals with this information can offer tailored interventions to promote cardiovascular well-being across different age groups. Therefore, fostering awareness regarding normal blood pressure ranges by age is crucial, as it empowers individuals to take control of their cardiovascular health.