When It Comes To Blood Pressure Both Numbers Matter, New Study Says

BOSTON (CBS) - When it comes to managing high blood pressure, doctors often focus on the top number, but a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine says both numbers matter.

Your systolic blood pressure - or the top number - represents how hard the heart works to pump blood into the arteries. The diastolic blood pressure - or bottom number - indicates the pressure in the arteries when the heart rests between beats.

A team of researchers at Kaiser Permanente in California, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School looked at data on more 1.3 million American adults.

They found that elevations in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were independently associated with a higher risk for heart attack and stroke, though systolic blood pressure had a greater impact.

That said, the researchers say both numbers are important and in otherwise healthy adults, the lower the numbers, the better.

The newest guidelines say stage one hypertension begins at 130/80.