BLOOD PRESSURE IN WOMEN AS INFLUENCED BY THE SEXUAL ORGANS

Abstract

Several years ago when one of us (W. C. A.) analyzed the records of blood pressure in 15,000 University of California freshmen and 1,000 office patients, he was much impressed by the fact that the data from the women were so different from those of the men. Thus, when we turn to the report of that work,¹ we note, first, that the mean pressure for the women was 10 mm. less than that for the men until the late forties, when the women's pressures averaged higher than those of the men. More striking was the fact that whereas 20.7 per cent of the young men had pressures over 140 mm., only 2.7 per cent of the women were similarly affected. In all fairness, it should be noted at this point that Diehl and Sutherland² have just shown that if the men students with the high readings are allowed to rest