Winter blood pressure 5 mm..

03 January, 2012

Blood pressure falls and rises with the change in seasons and according to medical experts, most high blood pressure deaths are reported in winters than summers.

MEDICAL EXPERTS have said that cases of high blood pressure are seen more in winters than summers. “The systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) blood pressures rise and fall with the change of seasons,” said Padmashri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee Dr KK Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India.

In a study by the Institute National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale of Paris and published in the archives of Internal medicine, of 8801 people aged 65 or older, average systolic blood pressure, is five points higher in winter than in summer.

Instances of high blood pressure (systolic blood pressure higher than 159, or diastolic higher than 94 millimetres of mercury or higher) in the study were found in 33.4 percent of participants during winter but just 23.8 percent during summer.

The reason could be related to the barereflex, a mechanism of blood pressure regulation that is modified in elderly subjects or a function of the sympathetic nervous system, which helps control involuntary actions such as stress response. 5 mm change in blood pressure can explain why there are more deaths of heart patients in winter.