The Relationships of Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and Body Weight to Aging in the Domestic Fowl

Abstract

THE average systolic blood pressure of the domestic fowl had been reported to increase from 1 year to 3 to 4 years of age (Sturkie et al., 1953). Males were shown to increase 14 percent and females increased by 24 percent. The development of sex differences in the blood pressures of the chick have been investigated by Weiss et al. (1957). These investigators determined that a divergence of pressures began when the chicks were 8 to 13 weeks of age and depended primarily upon an increase in male systolic blood pressure. Nichols et al. (1963) determined the relationship between systolic blood pressure and body weight in cockerels and determined that blood pressure increased 2.02 mm. Hg per week of age or 8.46 mm. Hg per kilogram of body weight. In these investigations, heart rates of the females were significantly higher than those of the males. Heart rate was not causally …