Only Systolic Pressure matters after 50

Measure and diagnosis of hypertension should focus exclusively on systolic blood pressure in patients aged over 50 years, rather than using both systolic and diastolic as is current practice.

The experts say that, because of ageing populations, systolic hypertension (SH) is becoming much more common and important due to its high prevalence in patients aged 50 years and over, compared with diastolic hypertension.
Systolic blood pressure (SBP) rises with age, but diastolic blood pressure (DBP) only rises until around age 50 and falls thereafter, at a time when risk of cardiovascular disease begins to rise. Thus there is an increased prevalence of SH in patients aged 50 years and over, and an almost total disappearance of DH. Since more than 75% of people with hypertension are aged over 50 years, the burden of disease is mainly due to systolic pressure.
Also,SBP is more easily and accurately measured than DBP and is a better predictor of risk.