Pulse pressure is defined as...

• A. MAP
• B. SBP minus DBP
• C. DBP minus SBP
• D. (SBP + DBP)/2

Answer: (C)

Pulse pressure is the difference between the pressure in the arteries during a heartbeat (systolic) and the pressure between beats (diastolic). It is calculated as systolic blood pressure minus diastolic blood pressure. This difference reflects the force the heart generates with each beat and how stretchy the arteries are. A typical pulse pressure is around 40 mmHg, but it can vary with age, heart function, and vascular health. This concept is distinct from mean arterial pressure, which represents the average pressure in the arteries over the cardiac cycle and is often estimated as diastolic pressure plus about one-third of the pulse pressure, or equivalently the average of systolic and diastolic pressures. Subtracting diastolic from systolic is the standard way to quantify the pulsatile component of blood pressure.