Book Review Blood Pressure Study. 1939 . 4°, cloth, 69 pp. New York: compiled and published by The Actuarial Society of America and The Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors, 1940. $4.00.

1941 ◽  
Vol 224 (24) ◽  
pp. 1039-1040
1939 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Hunter

There are so many phases of the problem of blood pressure that I shall limit myself to dealing with a recent investigation of the mortality on lives accepted as “standard risks” by the New York Life Insurance Company.The experience investigated was that of new policies issued from 1925 to 1936, inclusive, observed from entry until the anniversaries of the policies in 1937. The investigation was by policies and was divided into two groups, (a) those in which there was no impairment, and (b) those in which there appeared minor impairments but not of sufficient moment to place the policyholders in a substandard group. The expected deaths were obtained according to the company's standard experience for the same years of issue and exposure. The total number of policies emerging by death was 9552.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Michael Fulks ◽  
Robert L. Stout ◽  
Vera F. Dolan

Objective Redefine the “normal” reference range for blood pressure from <140/90 to one that more effectively identifies individuals with increased mortality risk. Method Data from the recently published 2014 CRL blood pressure study was used. It includes 2,472,706 life insurance applicants tested by Clinical Reference Laboratory from 1993 to 2007 with follow-up for vital status using the September 2011 Social Security Death Master File. Various upper limits of blood pressure (BP in mm Hg) were evaluated to determine if any was superior to the current, commonly used limit of 140/90 in identifying individuals with increased mortality risk. Results An alternative reference range using a systolic BP (SBP) <130 with any diastolic BP (DBP) included 84% of life insurance applicants. It had a lower mortality rate and narrower range of relative risk than <140/90, including 89% as many applicants but only 68% as many deaths. This pattern of lives and deaths was consistent across age and sex. Conclusion Switching to a “normal” reference range of SBP <130 offers superior risk assessment relative to using BP <140/90 while still including a sufficient percentage of the population.


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