XI, B, 3 Concepcion and Bulatao: Blood Pressure of Filipiiios 145 



temperature, and psychic condition. It decreases from birth up 

 to 20 years. From 20 years onward it remains practically 

 constant ; in old age there may be a slight increase (Schafer (19) ) . 



Pulse rate in the tropics is still an unsettled question. Rat- 

 tray on one hand claims that it is lower in the tropics ; Huggard, 

 Parks, Jousset, and Chamberlain maintain, on the contrary, that 

 the pulse rate is increased by ten beats a minute. Chamber- 

 lain, (2) in a series of 200 Filipinos with an average age of 

 24.9 years, found an average of 79.1 beats a minute. Our 536 

 male cases, of an average age of 29.5 years, gave an average 

 pulse rate of 81.5 beats a minute; and in 181 female cases, 

 average age 25.1 years, we obtained an average of 84.1 beats 

 a minute. These results compare favorably with Chamber- 

 lain's findings. Table I shows that the pulse rate has no definite 

 relation to age nor to blood pressure. As is to be expected, the 

 pulse rate in females is a few beats more than in males. Our 

 findings, then, confirm the results of Huggard and others. 



One more interesting thing we found in our male cases was 

 that after 50 years of age the pulse rate begins to fall slightly. 

 Table I shows that 69 cases between 41 to 60 years of age gave 

 an average of 69 pulse beats in a minute. After 60 years it 

 begins to increase again slightly. Our 21 cases between 61 to 

 90 years of age gave 77.5 beats a minute. Stewart (21) gives 

 an average of 73 to 69 beats a minute from 20 to 25 years. 

 According to this author it remains the same until the age of 

 60 and then increases again somewhat until old age. 



No deductions can be drawn as to the relation of pulse rate 

 and the height of arterial tension, since the form of each pulse 

 curve depends not only upon the systole of the heart, but also 

 on the peripheral resistance, the tone of the arteries, and the 

 amplitude of the reflected waves. 



RELATION OF SYSTOLIC PRESSURE TO CRIME 



During this investigation we thought that it would be interest- 

 ing to find out if we can establish any relation between systolic 

 pressure and crime. The result of this inquiry gave us the 

 following findings: Thirty-three cases in our series were hom- 

 icides with an average age of 30.6 years. These had an average 

 systolic pressure of 123.5 millimeters, 88.1 millimeters diastolic, 

 and a pulse rate of 90.2 per minute; five other cases were ex- 

 cluded on account of the systolic pressure being above 160 

 millimeters. The figures for these homicides are higher than 

 normal with the exception of five cases between 41 and 50 years 



