BLOOD-PRESSURE PICTURE OF THE FILIPINOS ^ 



By ISABELO CONCEPCION and Emilio Bulatao 



{From the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine and Surgery, 

 University of the Philippines) 



THREE PLATES AND 2 TEXT FIGURES 

 INTRODUCTION 



It is only in very recent years that the sphygmomanometer 

 (Plate I) has come into general use in practical medicine as well 

 as in the laboratory. It is already generally believed to furnish 

 a great amount of diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic in- 

 formation. According to Goodman — 



the sphygmomanometer is now as much a part of the physician's proper 

 armamentarium as are the clinical thermometer and the stethoscope, and 

 the assistance which may be expected from its routine employment should 

 also be as familiar to him. 



While the blood-pressure picture has been worked out to 

 some degree of satisfaction by several investigators in Europe 

 and in America, very little work has been done on the subject 

 in the Philippine Islands. The only observations that can be 

 found on record are those of Musgrave and Sison(l) and of 

 Chamberlain. (2) These investigators discuss only the systolic 

 pressure and give no data on diastolic and pulse pressures. 

 Only very recently Warfield(3) pointed out the importance of 

 the determination of diastolic and pulse pressures, a fact that 

 has been neglected or given very little attention in the last 

 few years. According to Warfield blood-pressure estimation 

 should register three values — namely, the height of the systolic ; 

 the height of the diastolic; and the difference between the two, 

 the pulse pressure. A record containing the three values he 

 called "blood-pressure picture." Any report which does not 

 register these values he considered as incomplete, and it may 

 lead one to fallacious conclusions. 



The systolic pressure is the measure of the maximum force 

 of the heart beat. It is the force necessary to overcome the 

 peripheral resistance plus the force actually expended in driving 

 the blood through the body. (3) It also represents the maximum 

 kinetic energy of uie bloOv.. k^) 



The importance of the diastolic blood-pressure determination 

 was also made evident by Emerson (5) as being the measure of 



' Received for publication May 31, 1916. 



135 



