The pulse pressure is ________.

• A. Systolic pressure minus diastolic pressure
• B. Mean arterial pressure minus diastolic pressure
• C. Heart rate times stroke volume
• D. Systolic pressure divided by diastolic pressure

Answer: (A)

Pulse pressure is the pressure you see in the arteries with each heartbeat, calculated as the difference between systolic and diastolic pressures. For example, if systolic is 120 mmHg and diastolic is 80 mmHg, the pulse pressure is 40 mmHg. This difference reflects the amount of pressure the heart generates to push blood into the arteries and is influenced by the stroke volume and the arteries’ elasticity. It’s not the same as mean arterial pressure minus diastolic pressure, which would be only about one-third of the pulse pressure, nor is it the heart rate times stroke volume (that’s cardiac output), nor the ratio of systolic to diastolic pressure.