The medical term for high blood pressure is hypertension. Blood
pressure is measured by two numbers. The top number is your
systolic pressure, the pressure created when your heart beats. It
is considered high if consistently over 140. The bottom number is
your diastolic pressure, the pressure inside blood vessels when the
heart is at rest. It is considered high if consistently over 90.
Review Date: 12/23/2010
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
