BASAL BLOOD PRESSURE AND PULSE RATE IN ADOLESCENTS

Although measurements of the blood pressures of large populations of normal adults have been reported and the limits of normal variation have been fairly well established,¹ relatively few measurements have been made for developing adolescents.² Pulse rates of untold thousands of high school children have been counted under unknown conditions of rest or exercise, but the information available on changes in the basal pulse rate with age during the adolescent period is scantly.³ This report presents the results of repeated measurements of pulse rate and blood pressure taken at intervals of six months for the same persons (children aged 11.5 to 17.5 years) under basal conditions over a period of six years.

SUBJECTS AND PROCEDURE  The subjects for the cumulative study were 50 girls and 50 boys, chosen for the University of California Adolescent Growth Study from five elementary schools of Oakland, Calif. Since repeated testing of