Section: Paragraph Comprehension

33) When doctors talk about blood pressure, what they really mean is the pressure in your arteries. When your blood flows, the force exerted against the walls of the blood vessels by the blood is what creates your blood pressure. There are several things that affect this pressure. When your heart contracts, the pressure in your arteries is the greatest. This is called the systolic pressure. When your heart retracts or relaxes, the pressure in the arteries is at its lowest. This is called the diastolic pressure. This is why your blood pressure is expressed as two numbers, one represents the systolic pressure and one represents the diastolic pressure.

According to the passage, which one of the following statements is most accurate?

The blood in the arteries is at its lowest pressure during retraction.
Diastolic pressure measures the pressure of the blood in the arteries when the heart is contracting.
Your blood pressure is determined by dividing the systolic number by the diastolic number.
Pulse pressure is another term for blood pressure.

Explanation

The correct answer is (A). The third sentence in the passage states that when the heart relaxes, the blood in the arteries is at its lowest pressure.

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