For healthcare professionals
Pulse Pressure Calculator
Pulse pressure is the difference between the systolic and the diastolic blood pressure. This tool works it out from one reading and shows whether it reaches the 60 mm Hg cut-off for elevated pulse pressure used in published open-access studies. It is written for clinicians and is not a diagnosis.
Blood pressure reading
Use the systolic and diastolic values from the same reading. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
What you will see
The pulse pressure in mm Hg and whether it is under 60 or 60 mm Hg or more.
Educational only, not medical advice. Not a diagnosis. Decisions belong to the treating team.
Source
The definition and the 60 mm Hg cut-off as used by Moya-Amengual A and colleagues, Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine 2023 (IBERICAN study), and by Wang Q and colleagues, Toxics 2023, both open access (CC BY). Wang 2023 and Mesquita Bastos J and colleagues, Diagnostics 2023 (CC BY), describe the link to the 2018 European blood pressure guidelines. The tests check the subtraction, the cut-off at exactly 60 mm Hg and that a value just under 60 is never shown as 60.
Validated in
IBERICAN: 8,066 adults aged 18 to 85 (54.5% women) seen in primary care in Spain. The 2018 European guidelines, as reported by Wang 2023 and Mesquita Bastos 2023, refer to older people with high blood pressure.
Limits
Pulse pressure is a risk marker, not a diagnosis, and one reading can vary. The 60 mm Hg cut-off comes from studies and guidelines on cardiovascular risk; IBERICAN notes its primary care sample had more risk factors than the general population. The sources give no cut-off for a low (narrow) pulse pressure, so the tool does not label one.
The formula
Pulse pressure = systolic blood pressure - diastolic blood pressure (Moya-Amengual 2023).
Worked example: a reading of 150/80 mm Hg gives 150 - 80 = 70 mm Hg, which is 60 mm Hg or more. A reading of 120/80 mm Hg gives 40 mm Hg.
The 60 mm Hg cut-off
The IBERICAN study defined elevated pulse pressure as a difference between systolic and diastolic pressure of 60 mm Hg or more (Moya-Amengual 2023). Wang and colleagues used the same cut-off, citing the 2018 European blood pressure guidelines, which state that a pulse pressure of 60 mm Hg or more in older people with high blood pressure increases cardiovascular disease (Wang 2023). Mesquita Bastos and colleagues describe the same guidelines as treating a pulse pressure above 60 mm Hg as a marker of worse cardiovascular outcome in patients over 60 years (Mesquita Bastos 2023). The tool counts exactly 60 mm Hg as elevated, as IBERICAN and Wang did.
What the IBERICAN study found
In 8,066 primary care patients, the mean pulse pressure was 52.35 mm Hg, higher in people with high blood pressure (56.58 vs 48.45 mm Hg). The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of elevated pulse pressure was 23.54% (25.40% of men, 21.75% of women) and rose with age. High blood pressure, left ventricular hypertrophy, low estimated glomerular filtration rate, alcohol use, abdominal obesity and cardiovascular disease were independently linked to it. Of patients with elevated pulse pressure, 66.27% had a high or very high cardiovascular risk, against 36.57% of those without (odds ratio 3.41) (Moya-Amengual 2023).
In people with resistant high blood pressure followed with 24-hour monitoring, Mesquita Bastos and colleagues found a higher risk of later cardiovascular events with a 24-hour, daytime or nighttime pulse pressure above 60 mm Hg (Mesquita Bastos 2023).
Related tools
The mean arterial pressure calculator uses the same reading. The shock index calculator divides heart rate by systolic pressure. Other bedside scores are listed under For healthcare professionals.
Sources
- Moya-Amengual A, Ruiz-Garcia A, Pallares-Carratala V, Serrano-Cumplido A, Prieto-Diaz MA, Segura-Fragoso A, et al. Elevated pulse pressure and cardiovascular risk associated in Spanish population attended in primary care: IBERICAN study. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023;10:1090458. doi:10.3389/fcvm.2023.1090458. Open access (CC BY 4.0). Methods (elevated pulse pressure: systolic minus diastolic 60 mm Hg or more) and Results (prevalence, associated factors, cardiovascular risk). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10203900/
- Wang Q, Tian H, Wang W, Liu S, Zhang A. The relationship of arsenic exposure with hypertension and wide pulse pressure: preliminary evidence from coal-burning arsenicosis. Toxics. 2023;11(5):443. doi:10.3390/toxics11050443. Open access (CC BY 4.0). Methods (wide pulse pressure 60 mm Hg or more, based on the 2018 European blood pressure guidelines). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10223262/
- Mesquita Bastos J, Ferraz L, Pereira FG, Lopes S. Systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure are predictors of future cardiovascular events in patients with true resistant hypertension. Diagnostics (Basel). 2023;13(10):1817. doi:10.3390/diagnostics13101817. Open access (CC BY 4.0). Results (ambulatory pulse pressure above 60 mm Hg and cardiovascular events) and Discussion (2018 ESC/ESH guidelines). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10217577/
Written and maintained by the uncovermyrisk.com editorial team. We do not have a medical reviewer; every claim links to its primary source above. Last reviewed: 2026-11-02. Spotted an error? See About.