THE NORMAL VARIATION OF THE SYSTOLIC BLOOD-PRESSUREA STUDY OF ONE THOUSAND CASES

The practice of taking blood-pressures in insurance examinations has become comparatively common in the last few years. The question was soon asked, What is the normal blood-pressure? Is the blood-pressure different at different ages and, if so, what is the difference? We all know that the pulse may fluctuate between certain limits, say 60 to 85, and still we would not hesitate to say that a person within those limits was in health. If it is beyond either limit we would make a further study of the case, fearing that it might be a pathologic condition. The medical examiner, from an insurance standpoint, is in the opposite position from the general practitioner in his office, for the latter is dealing almost entirely with cases in a pathologic condition, while the insurance medical examiner is dealing with healthy persons and trying to find out how far their cases may deviate from