Parity and Blood Pressure Among Four Race-Stress Groups of Females in Detroit

Blood pressures (BPs) of 755 Detroit, Michigan, area females have been analyzed in relation to parity, race and residential stress. Mean BP values have been adjusted by standard methods of covariance analysis for differing effects of age and body size among various groups being compared. Adjusted systolic and diastolic BPs are found to be significantly different for black and white females. A residential stress effect is also seen for systolic BP among white females. However, none of the regression relationships between BP and parity is found to be significant in the race-stress groups included in the study. Thus, neither the consideration of race and stress nor adjustments for age and body size appear to add new information to the complex subject of BP as it relates to childbearing.