What do you call a blood pressure reading of 150/95 mmHg?

• A. Hypertension (stage 1–2 depending on guidelines); generally elevated blood pressure.
• B. Hypotension.
• C. Normal blood pressure.
• D. Prehypertension.

Answer: (D)

Understanding how blood pressure is categorized helps make sense of this reading. The numbers are systolic over diastolic. A reading of 150/95 has a systolic of 150 and a diastolic of 95, both well above normal. Under current guidelines, values at or above 140 systolic or 90 diastolic are classified as hypertension, and when both numbers are elevated like this, it’s hypertension, typically labeled stage 2. The term prehypertension was used for lower ranges (around 120–139/80–89 in older schemes), so it doesn’t fit here. Normal blood pressure is below 120/80, and hypotension would be significantly lower than that. So this measurement is best described as hypertension, stage 2.