RELATIVE HYPOTENSION OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA

It has been the common experience in studying groups of healthy Chinese to find that the blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic, is lower than that in occidental races. Table 1 summarizes the results of several investigations. In the West, with special reference to the United States, Alvarez 1 found that the average systolic blood pressure of 6,000 healthy men, ranging in age from 16 to 40 years, was 129 millimeters of mercury and in women 117. From a group of 141,840 persons of both sexes, ranging in age from 20 to 44 years, Symonds 2 obtained an average systolic blood pressure of 125 and a diastolic pressure of from 80 to 84. According to the available evidence, therefore, the average systolic pressure of healthy adults in the United States is approximately 125 and the diastolic 80, with slightly lower figures (from 5 to 10 lower) for women, while the average systolic