Hypertensive emergency is having severely elevated blood pressure (>180-220 mmHg/120-130 mmHg) that is complicated by progressive target end-organ damage of the central nervous system, heart, kidneys, or the gravid uterus.
There is no definite blood pressure threshold for the diagnosis of hypertensive emergency.
Most target end-organ damage happen with diastolic blood pressure of ≥130 mmHg.
Hypertensive urgency refers to patients with severely elevated blood pressure (>180/110-120 mmHg) but with little or no evidence of acute end-organ damage.
The clinical differentiation between hypertensive emergencies and urgencies is dependent on the presence of target end-organ damage rather than the level of blood pressure.