I do believe that age and gender have a bearing on blood pressure. However, other factors influence blood pressure as well. So the problem is two people of the same age and gender may have differing blood pressures due to factors such as activity levels, diet, and heredity.
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 think that blood pressures will slightly increase with age. I also believe the men will average higher blood pressure than the women.
As we age our lifestyle has a greater effect on our overall health. We may be less physically active and gain weight. Other habits like smoking and alcohol use are a factor as well, especially if we have a genetic predisposition to problems such as hypertension. The heart is forced to work harder because of plaque in the inner linings of the arteries.
I am going to hazard a guess that the reason men tend to have higher blood pressure than women is that they tend to be larger and heavier.
How will you use the investigation screen to test your hypothesis? What steps will you follow? What data will you record?
I will look at results for each age group and calculate the averages. I will also look at the charts for each of the patients to get an idea on their health history, lifestyle, etc.
I will note certain lifestyle factors present in those with higher readings. I will compare their results to patients in the same group.
Analyze the result of your experiment. Explain any patterns you observed.
Blood pressure was slightly higher in men than in women (see graph). Blood pressure seemed to gradually increase with age. More people had hypertension in the last (older) two groups than in the earlier age groups.
Those who did have hypertension often had other risk factors such as unhealthy weight, high salt diet, lack of exercise, or family history of hypertension.
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?
Yes, the results supported my hypothesis. I think it is because age creates more wear and tear on the body and the consequences of certain behaviors eventually cause enough damage to show up later in life. As far as men having higher blood pressure than women, again I think it has to do with size.
Age and gender are factors in blood pressure averages.
The chart above shows the results from the lab.
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?
I did get blood pressure readings outside the normal range. Again it seemed to coincide with certain behaviors like lack of exercise, salt intake, and alcohol use. Heredity also factored in. One of the biggest common denominators was excess body weight.
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 included family history, salt intake, lack of exercise, weight, and alcohol use.
It looked to me like excess body weight was the biggest risk factor.
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?
Obesity adds extra strain on the heart. Yes, I would say that obesity puts a person at risk. Add otherfactors like heredity and/or high salt diet and the person could be at even higher risk.
The graph is a little hard to see, but the top two lines represent systolic readings and the bottom two are the diastolic.
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