Enter your systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure (in mmHg) to calculate your pulse pressure — the difference between the two readings. You'll see your pulse pressure value along with an interpretation of whether it falls in the normal, low, or high range.
Pulse Pressure
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Interpretation
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Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP)
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Pulse pressure (PP) is the difference between your systolic blood pressure (the top number) and your diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number). For example, a blood pressure of 120/80 mmHg gives a pulse pressure of 40 mmHg. It reflects the force your heart generates with each beat.
A normal resting pulse pressure is generally between 40 and 60 mmHg. For a typical blood pressure reading of 120/80 mmHg, the pulse pressure is 40 mmHg, which falls within the healthy range.
Pulse pressure is approximately proportional to the left ventricular stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped per beat) and inversely proportional to the compliance (elasticity) of the arterial system. It is often described as PP ≈ Stroke Volume ÷ Arterial Compliance.
A narrow pulse pressure — typically below 25 mmHg or less than 25% of the systolic value — may indicate reduced cardiac output, such as in heart failure, hypovolemia, or aortic stenosis. It suggests the heart is not pumping enough blood per beat or that the arteries are very stiff.
A widened pulse pressure — generally above 60 mmHg — can indicate conditions such as aortic regurgitation, atherosclerosis, hyperthyroidism, anemia, or severe sepsis. In older adults, a consistently wide pulse pressure may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
A pulse pressure below 25 mmHg is generally considered narrow. Some clinicians use the criterion that a pulse pressure less than 25% of the systolic blood pressure value is clinically significant and may warrant further evaluation.
Mean arterial pressure is calculated as DBP + (1/3 × Pulse Pressure), or equivalently DBP + (SBP - DBP) / 3. While pulse pressure reflects beat-to-beat force, MAP represents the average pressure driving blood through the circulatory system throughout the cardiac cycle. A normal MAP is roughly 70–100 mmHg.
Yes — pulse pressure is widely used as a non-invasive surrogate marker for stroke volume in clinical settings. Studies such as the ANDROMEDA-SHOCK trial have used pulse pressure trends to guide hemodynamic resuscitation in critically ill patients, particularly in septic shock.