Implications of diastolic pressure

[OwlieO.O]

I was speaking to a friend who is an Ob/Gyn, and we were talking about preeclampsia. He mentioned that a high diastolic pressure is more concerning and indicative of disease processes than a high systolic pressure, generally. I didn't get a chance to talk with him further and I would like some more insight into this.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

The diastolic pressure is showing the pressure when the heart is at rest. A high diastolic pressure can mean that the heart is working hard even at rest.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

The diastolic pressure is the pressure in the blood vessels just before systole, contraction of the ventricle that makes the systolic pressure. The higher the diastolic pressure, the harder the heart has to work to open the aortic valve and push blood out into the aorta. This results in LV strain and early failure. If it happens fast, the heart can fail rapidly, like any other overworked muscle. If it develops slowly, you see signs of LV strain on EKG and LV hypertrophy on xray or other imaging.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

In simple terms the heart is working hard and not resting between beats which makes a tired damaged heart.

[OwlieO.O]

The diastolic pressure is the pressure in the blood vessels just before systole, contraction of the ventricle that makes the systolic pressure. The higher the diastolic pressure, the harder the heart has to work to open the aortic valve and push blood out into the aorta. This results in LV strain and early failure. If it happens fast, the heart can fail rapidly, like any other overworked muscle. If it develops slowly, you see signs of LV strain on EKG and LV hypertrophy on xray or other imaging.

Thank you. That's exactly the kind of description I was looking for. A high after-load wouldn't be very good.