What happens to pulse pressure when vessel compliance decreases?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking about the relationship between vessel compliance and pulse pressure, which is a concept in cardiovascular physiology. Essentially, we need to determine how a decrease in the ability of blood vessels to stretch affects the pulse pressure, which is the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Answer
Pulse pressure increases when vessel compliance decreases.
When vessel compliance decreases, pulse pressure increases.
Answer for screen readers
When vessel compliance decreases, pulse pressure increases.
More Information
Decreased arterial compliance results in an increased speed of the pulse pressure wave propagation. It leads to higher systolic pressure due to increased artery stiffness, causing a larger difference between systolic and diastolic pressures, which elevates pulse pressure.
Tips
A common mistake is confusing the concept of vessel compliance with blood pressure. When compliance decreases, there is less ability of the arteries to expand, resulting in increased pulse pressure rather than reduced blood pressure.
Sources
- Physiology, Pulse Pressure - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Pulse pressure—a review of mechanisms and clinical relevance - ScienceDirect - sciencedirect.com
- Aortic and Arterial Pulse Pressure - CV Physiology - cvphysiology.com
AI-generated content may contain errors. Please verify critical information
