Included in your membership
Pulse Pressure: What the Gap in Your Reading Shows
All NiaHealth tests are processed in Canadian-certified labs, which are highly trusted by the medical community for their accuracy and reliability. Blood and urine samples are collected by licensed medical professionals and processed using state-of-the-art equipment. NiaHealth is SOC2 Type 2 certified.
Pulse pressure is the difference between the top (systolic) and bottom (diastolic) numbers in your blood pressure reading. For example, a person with a blood pressure of 120/80 mmHg has a pulse pressure of 40 mmHg (120 - 80). Your pulse pressure reflects the force your heart generates each time it contracts and provides insight into the health of your arteries. Pulse pressure tends to increase as we age, because the arteries become stiffer and less flexible.
Included in membership
NiaHealth memberships include Pulse Pressure testing twice a year, along with 60+ other biomarkers, at no additional cost.
Nurse Practitioner reviewed
Canadian-certified labs
SOC2 Type 2 certified
Why it matters
High pulse pressure is a predictor of cardiovascular events, heart failure, and overall mortality. It can also be an indicator of medical conditions such as aortic regurgitation, hyperthyroidism, or high-output heart failure. Lifestyle interventions such as aerobic exercise and dietary modifications (e.g., increased intake of omega 3 fatty acids) can increase the compliance or ‘elasticity’ of the arteries, lowering pulse pressure and cardiovascular risk.
People who do a lot of aerobic exercise may have a low pulse pressure because their arteries are very compliant. Low pulse pressure may also be seen in people with heart failure, aortic stenosis, massive blood loss, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and hypothyroidism. This means that low pulse pressure on its own is not necessarily “good” or “bad”, and it is important for results to be interpreted together with your systolic and diastolic blood pressure and overall health history.
Reference ranges
Based on reported relationships between pulse pressure and clinical outcomes, the following ranges are used: <50 mmHg (Optimal) and ≥50 mmHg (High, at risk).
Given that low pulse pressure in isolation is not predictive of poor health outcomes, no lower ‘at risk’ cutoff has been identified.
Dart, A. M., & Kingwell, B. A. (2001). Pulse pressure—a review of mechanisms and clinical relevance. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 37(4), 975–984. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0735-1097(01)01108-1
Homan, T. D., Bordes, S. J., & Cichowski, E. (2023). Physiology, pulse pressure. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482408/
Tang, K. S., Wong, C. K. H., & Mak, C. (2020). Wide pulse pressure: A clinical review. Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 22(7), 1220–1227. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8029839
This information is educational and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Your results should be interpreted with a qualified healthcare professional in the context of your health history.
