Only Europeans Are
p. 24 · Read in the full issue
Blowing Their Tops
Dr. I. Haddocks of the Uni versity of Melbourne has made a survey of blood pressure characteristics of people living in the Islands which shows that only in the case of Europeans does blood pressure rise rapidly after the age of 40 years.
In 1958 Dr. Haddocks took the blood pressure of some 8,000 people in Fiji, and he was back on the job, testing the above 40’s only this time, in March.
He then left for the Gilberts and in April was testing the entire population of one of the islands there.
From all of this he hopes to discover whether the European blood pressure rise is due to dietary differences, greater re sponsibility and consequent worry, or general living habits, or whether the non-Europeans are protected by some heredi tary traits.