Answer:
Millimeters of mercury (mmHg)
Step-by-step explanation:
As its name suggests, blood pressure is a reading of a type of pressure. Specifically, it is the pressure blood exerts on arterial walls as it is forcefully pumped from the heart to the body's tissues When it comes to pressure in the medical field, the most widely used unit of measurement is millimeters of mercury (mmHg), derived from Torricelli's experiments in which he would submerge the open end of a glass tube in mercury creating a partial vacuum that pulls the element into the tube, a length that could be measured.
Inches may be used to described the size of the blood pressure cuff attached to a sphygmomanometer, however, it would not described the blood pressure itself. The medical field also makes plentiful use of the metric system rather than imperial so if inches are used, it is often converted.
Systolic and diastolic are measured points when reading a blood pressure. The systolic pressure is the top number that represents the heart's contraction period, forcing blood out of the heart and to the tissues. The diastolic pressure is the bottom number that represents the heart's relaxation period, refilling the heart's chambers with blood in preparation for the next cycle of blood flow. Both of these pressures are measured in mmHg.