SYSTOLIC BIjOOD-PRESSURE AND THE PULSE RATE. 



473 



Table V. — Average systolic ilood-pressures and pulse rates for 991 men, the 

 combined 1909-Group and 1910-Group, arranged ly length, of Philippine 

 residence. {12.5-centimeter armlet.) 



Length of tropical residence. 



Number 

 ot men. 



Average 

 pres- 

 sure. 



Average 

 pulse. 



Average 

 age. 





234 

 88 

 211 

 291 

 167 



mm. 

 114 

 120 

 114 



117 

 120 



76 

 80 

 76 

 85 

 80 



23.2 

 26.9 

 25.7 

 25.7 

 29.9 





6 to 9 months-- — 



9 to 12 months 







It will be observed that in all 3 tables the blood-pressure is lower 

 during the first three months of tropical residence than at any subsequent 

 time, with two exceptions. The variations between the average readings 

 for the different quarterly periods are slight, rarely exceeding 6 milli- 

 meters, and there seems to be no consistent rise or fall of pressure with 

 increasing length of tropical service. The fact that the last readings 

 in Tables IV and Y and the last 3 in Table III are rather higher than the 

 earlier ones can best be explained by consulting the column of ages, 

 when .it will be seen that the average age of the men for these periods was 

 considerably higher than for those who had served shorter terms in the 

 Philippines. The reason of this is that most of the individuals who 

 stay longer than two years in the Archipelago are old soldiers, desirous 

 of taking advantage of the fact that Philippine duty counts as double 

 time in reckoning the thirty years of service necessary for retirement. 

 Pulse rates in all the 3 tables are somewhat elevated above the average 

 for the temperate zone, but there is no indication that increasing length 

 of service aggravates the tendency to undue rapidity of heart action. 



Tables VII and VIII show that during a period of one year, through- 

 out which observations were made quarterly, there was no progressive 

 alteration in blood tension and that the pressure was not materially 

 different -at the beginning and at the end of this year of observation. 



Musgrave and Sison(6), working in Manila and using the Erlanger instrument 

 with a 12.5-eentimeter armlet, found among 97 foreigners, 'mostly Americans 

 from the Civil Service and the United States Army, that the blood-pressures 

 were as shown in Table VI. 



Table VI. — Average systolic blood-pressures of 97 foreigners in Manila, according 

 to Musgrave and Sison. {12.5-centimeter armlet.) 



Length of 

 residence. 



Pressure. 



Years. 



1 or less. 



lto5 



5 to 10 



Over 10 



mm. 

 124 •■ 

 115 

 116 

 113 



