Blood pressure category calculator
Blood pressure is categorised from the two numbers in a reading, and the higher of the two categories applies. Blood pressure rises in women around and after the menopause transition — estrogen supports vessel flexibility through nitric oxide and restrains the system governing sodium balance — and the prevalence of hypertension in women overtakes that in men from around the sixth decade. High blood pressure causes no symptoms until it causes damage.
This is the most valuable thing to measure in this decade, precisely because it produces nothing to feel. The occasional headache or nosebleed attributed to it is usually unrelated, and waiting to notice something is why it goes undetected for years.
Two practical points about measuring before you enter anything. A single clinic reading is a poor basis for anything — home readings over several days, or 24-hour monitoring, give a far better picture. And cuff size matters: a cuff that is too small overestimates, which is a common and easily corrected source of error.
Enter a reading in mmHg.
Based on a published formula
Blood pressure categories (ACC/AHA) — Standard categories applied to a single reading. Diagnosis of hypertension requires repeated readings, usually including measurements taken outside a clinic.
Read more on this
Blood pressure after menopause: why it starts to climb
Heart disease risk after menopause: the change nobody feels
Menopause insomnia: why sleep breaks in the transition
Sources
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute — High blood pressure
- The Menopause Society — patient education
- SWAN — Study of Women's Health Across the Nation