Have Low Pulse Rate And Blood Pressure. What Is The Reason?

Posted on Wed, 8 May 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 8 May 2013 Answered on

Tue, 28 May 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I had a blood pressure test today,prior to donating blood. The reading was; 143/54, with a pulse rate of 36. This was deemed to be too low a pulse rate, for donating blood. What are some of the reasons for this reading?

Answered by Dr. Anantharamakrishnan (52 minutes later)

Hi friend,
Welcome to Health Care Magic

Normal heart rate has a range - 60 to 100
This is quite slow. It is mostly due to disease of the conduction system of the heart - unless proved otherwise.
Some drugs for blood pressure may do this, but you have no significant past illness...

THE FIRST STEP IS TO SEE A CARDIOLOGIST / it needs to be DOCUMENTED by ElectroCardioGram (EKG). A thorough history and physical examination is the first step -/ ECG (Electrocardiogram / EKG) – Routine 12-lead – is part of clinical examination.
     HOLTER (24 to 48 hour ambulatory monitoring) is done to analyse and plan for further management, if a routine ECG does not show. It may also detect silent (no symptom) ischemia.
     ECHOcardiogram is necessary to see the heart valves (muscle (Cardiomyopathy) and heart function (Ejection fraction, wall motion abnormality) / clots...
      TMT (Treadmill exercise ECG) is done to exclude Ischemia (reduced blood flow).
     LABORATORY work-up is routine - like blood counts, sugar, urea, electrolytes (potassium in particular), thyroid (over-active) and so on.

If there are no clues, you may need Electro Physiological Studies (EPS)
You may need a pacemaker...

Your Internist shall suggest based on the situation.

Take care
Wishing speedy recovery
God bless
Good luck

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar