THE BASAL METABOLIC RATE IN CASES OF CHRONIC CARDIAC DISEASE AND IN CASES OF HYPERTENSION

Abstract

In 1916 Peabody, Meyer and DuBois 1 found that patients with compensated cardiac disease showed no increase in basal metabolism. Nine out of twelve cases with dyspnea showed elevations in heat production above normal. They used both direct and indirect calorimetry. The respiratory quotients were between 0.73 and 0.94. They considered the earlier work of others of questionable accuracy because the respiratory quotients were too low. Peabody, Wentworth and Barker 2 in 1917 studied twenty-four cases of cardiac disease and used as an additional index the vital capacity. Their results indicated that the rise in heat production was related to the degree of cardiac insufficiency. In direct accord with these observations Aub and DuBois 3 reported the respiratory exchange to be increased in cases of hypertension with dyspnea. The subsequent studies of Peabody, Wearn and Tompkins 4 on irritable heart in soldiers, and of Boothby and Sandiford 5 on a large series of various types