It's not even a matter of covid. Blood pressure can drop with any severe infection, and this is a bad sign. But in the story where on the phone interviewed a patient with covid or his relatives, there was a point about pressure.
I will explain. Even if a person in serious condition is taken to a hospital with a bunch of medical devices, the usual measurement of blood pressure will still play a very important role. Tactics strongly depend on him, therefore there are special standards. The level of mean arterial pressure is considered more often.
Mean arterial pressure is the diastolic blood pressure in millimeters of mercury plus one third of the pulse pressure. And the pulse rate is the difference between systolic and diastolic.
For example, blood pressure is 130/70. The average blood pressure will be 70 + (130-70) / 3 = 90. It's good.
It is bad if the mean arterial pressure is below 65 millimeters of mercury.
You have to do something about this. At home, nothing can be done about it. Therefore, in that telephone questionnaire they also ask about blood pressure. Even taking into account the pressure, it is already possible to be taken to the hospital.
In general, there are several signs of pressure drop:
- systolic blood pressure below 90 millimeters of mercury;
- mean arterial pressure below 65 millimeters of mercury;
- relative drop - if systolic blood pressure has dropped by 40 millimeters of mercury;
- orthostatic is when in a standing position the systolic falls by 20, and the diastolic - by 10 millimeters of mercury.
In fact, even when a person is already in shock from an infection, they may still have slightly high blood pressure. So there is no need to wait for a sharp decline.
Conversely, there are many young and strong people who often faint. For such people, for any reason, the pressure can be so overwhelmed that it cannot be measured.
But still, if a person is seriously ill, and he has the symptoms listed above, then it is better to tell the doctor about it. Better to call the ambulance again.
The relative decline is especially bad for people. If the grandmother's upper pressure has not dropped below 150 for twenty years, and then suddenly it became 110, then there is no need to rejoice. Something bad is happening to my grandmother.
Have you calculated your mean arterial pressure?
