Blood Pressure Online Lab

1.State a problem about the relationship of age and gender to blood pressure.
One problem is as people get older often times they will start smoking or drinking which can increase blood pressure. Also older people might not exercise as much which results in higher blood pressure

2.Use your knowledge about the heart and the circulatory system to make a hypothesis about how the average blood pressure for a group of people would be affected by manipulating the age and gender of the group members.
I hypothesize that as the age groups increase in age there will be more cases of individual hypertension, thus also bringing up the average blood pressures. By manipulating the gender, I hypothesize that males will have higher blood pressures due to obesity factors.

3.How will you use the investigation screen to test your hypothesis? What steps will you follow? What data will you record?
After all the blood pressures have been taken I will look to see if any individual shows hypertension. If so, the factors of their past medical history will be noted. Then I will go through everyone's history and note the factors, even if they are not hypertensive at this time.

4.Analyze the result of your experiment. Explain any patterns you observed.
Females were broken into 5 groups of 10. Group one is age 11-17, group two 18-24, group three 25-34, group four 35-44 and group five 45-54.
Group One- average BP 116/75. No cases of hypertension. Two of the subjects had a family history of hypertension, and one of these two also lacked exercise
Group Two- average BP 117/75. One case of hypertension. This person had family history, lacked exercise and was 30% overweight. Her BP was 140/91
Group Three-average BP 117/76. No cases of hypertension. Two subjects lacked exercise but did not exhibit hypertension due to this fact
Group Four- average BP 126/81. Three cases of hypertension. Of these three, one had family history and a BP of 140/91, one consumed alcohol and had a BP of 141/92 and the third had no history of any kind but a BP of 142/92
Group Five- average 131/80. Two cases of hypertension. Both of these subjects had high salt diets, lacked exercise, and were 30% overweight. BP's were 144/91 and 145/95. Two other subjects had family history of hypertension, but were not hypertensive themselves.
In the females, regardless of age, 6 out of 50 subjects showed hypertension. 1 of these 6 was 30%overweight with a family history, 1 had a family history only, 1 had no history of anything, 1 consumed alcohol only, and 2 had high salt diets and were obese.

Males Group One- average 117/76. No cases of hypertension. 2 subjects were obese
Group Two- average 127/79. One case of hypertension. This subject had a family history and was obese. BP was 141/91
Group Three- average 130/80. No cases of hypertension. Two subjects had a high salt diet
Group Four- average 130/81. One case of hypertension. This subject had a high salt diet, consumed alcohol and was obese. BP was 142/91.
Group Five- average 135/85. Four cases of hypertension. Of these four all had family history, three were obese, and one consumed alcohol on top of the other factors. BP's were 140/90, 144/91, 142/90, and 146/94
In the males 6 out of 50 subjects were hypertensive. 4 of them fell into the age group 45-54. 5 out of these six were obese and had a family history of hypertension.

5.Did the result of your experiment support your hypothesis? Why or why not? Based on your experiment what conclusion can you draw about the relationship of age and gender to group blood pressure averages?
For the most part these tests supported my hypothesis. To get a more accurate result, I feel that a larger number of subjects would need to be tested. From this experiment it shows there were 6 cases in both genders of hypertension, not just males. It also shows more cases of obesity in males in group 5 with hypertension verses females, whose hypertension was spread throughout the age groups, and not strictly related to obesity.

6.During the course of your experiment, did you obtain any blood pressure reading that were outside of the normal range for the group being tested? What did you notice on the medical charts for these individuals that might explain their high reading?
In both male and females there were 6 cases each of hypertesion. Of these 12 subjects only one (female) had no medical history. The other 11 had any combination of family history, high salt diet, lack of exercise, obesity, or alcohol consumption. More males then females were obese.

7.List risk factors associated with the hypertension. Based on your observation, which risk factor do you think is most closely associated with hypertension?
Risk factors of hypertension include smoking, drug abuse, weight gain, and also family history. In this particular study, weight gain was seen most frequently with hyptertension, along with family history. However, smoking and drug abuse were not listed in subjects history

8.What effect might obesity have on blood pressure? Does obesity alone cause a person to be at risk for high blood pressure? What other factors, in combination with obesity, might increase a
person's risk for high blood pressure?
When someone is obese they have more tissues for the blood to circulate through and take care of. To accompish this, the heart must increase the pressure when it pumps. Obesity alone can cause risk of high blood pressure, but other things such as diet, family history, drinking, can all play a part.
Graphs and charts for this lab