Thoughts of Blood Pressure Norms During Pregnancy in Indian Women

It is generally believed that Indian women exhibit lower blood pressure levels as compared with their Western counterparts. A study was undertaken to— a. verify the validity of this belief and b. if so, to establish a standard norm for our women c. to search the causes to explain the differences if any, in blood pressure levels of the normally pregnant Indian women and their Western counterparts. The study was limited to healthy women with uncomplicated normal pregnancies. Two distinct groups were marked out for the series— 1 those belonging to lower socio-economic strata. 2 the others, belonging to the higher socio-economic strata. Efforts were made to correlate the errect of height, weight, parity, age and the circumference of the arm of the women on the systolic and diastolic levels of blood pressure in both the groups under study. A brand new idea in feminine protection for today's woman.