THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

The effect of weight,

gender, and exercise on
cardiovascular health
measurements such as
pulse rate and blood
pressure
Angela Battaglia
TA: Hongchen Cai
Section: 001H
4/9/2014



1

Introduction
The heart is an essential organ responsible for pumping blood throughout the
body, and it is separated into chambers and valves. The atria are the upper chambers and
are responsible for pumping blood that returns from the body into the lower chambers,
the ventricles (Nelson & Burpee, 2014). The ventricles then pump blood back out into the
rest of the body (Nelson & Burpee, 2014). The right side of the heart uses the pulmonary
circuit to pump blood and transfer gases to it in the lungs, while the left side of the heart
uses the systematic circuit to pump blood and exchange gases with other bodily tissues
(Nelson & Burpee, 2014). When blood travels through the heart it is coming from blood
vessels called veins and first enters the right atrium. It then goes through the
atrioventricular valve into the right ventricle and then leaves eventually ending up in the
lungs where gas exchange occurs (Nelson & Burpee, 2014). Blood then returns to the
heart and into the left ventricle, and then is pushed out of the body through the semiaortic
valve into the arteries. The two heart sounds we normally hear go along with the closing
of heart valves (Nelson & Burpee, 2014). The first sound, the lub, goes along with
valve contraction, and the sound, the dub with valve relaxation (Nelson & Burpee,
2014).
There are a few different measures of cardiovascular health such as blood
pressure and pulse count. As a general rule, lower values for both of these measures are
indicatory of good cardiovascular health. Blood pressure, in particular, is contributable to
two main factors: cardiac output and peripheral resistance Cardiac output is defined as the
amount of blood going into the ventricle per a certain unit of time (Nelson & Burpee,
2014). Both the rate at which the heart beats and how much blood each beat contains
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factors into the cardiac output, and it increases significantly during exercise (Nelson &
Burpee, 2014). Peripheral resistance which is the resistance from the surrounding blood
vessels for blood to flow out of the heart that prevents the blood pressure in the heart
from bottoming out between beats (Nelson & Burpee, 2014). Blood pressure fluctuates
with heart beats with its lowest point named the diastole and its peak the systole, and both
the systolic and diastolic blood pressures are needed for a blood pressure measurement
(Nelson & Burpee, 2014).
As previously stated, blood pressure and pulse count are main measures of
cardiovascular health, and there are many factors that can contribute to an individuals
cardiovascular health such as exercise, gender, and weight. Exercise has been found
repeatedly to increase cardiac health demonstrated by its ability to decrease the risk of
dying from heart diseases such as coronary heart disease (Paffenbarger et. al., 1993). In
addition to this, lack of exercise is a significant risk factor for obtaining heart disease; it is
considered one of the five major risk factors (Myers, 2003) (Luepker et. al., 1996).
Weight has also been identified as a factor in cardiac health. Males have been shown to
generally have lower heart health as determined by an increased risk of coronary heart
disease (Barrett-Connor, 1997). Although females do experience some later life events
such as menopause and pregnancy that can be factors in decreasing heart health(Parikh,
2011), they still generally perform better on tests of coronary risk factors than
men(Smelser & Bates,2001). Weight also contributes to heart health, again as judged by
an increased risk of heart disease. As BMI, which is strongly related to weight, increases,
so does a persons relative risk to contract heart disease (Manson et. al., 1995). Healthy
body weight along with other healthy lifestyle choices has also been found to decrease
3

heart disease risk factors (Hu, 2005).
The goals of this experiment are to obtain data about different individuals cardiac
health and their physiology and analyze this data before and during exercise and also to
evaluate what factors are important in cardiovascular fitness through connecting the
cardiovascular data with personal histories. Many different attributes of personal history
were obtained from the individuals, but weight, gender, and amount of exercise were the
factors chosen for analysis. The main question here is what role these factors play in
cardiovascular health as determined by data such as blood pressure and pulse count. Due
to the preexisting data, I hypothesize that cardiovascular health will be increased,
meaning that pulse count and blood pressure during exercise will not be as significantly
elevated as compared to at rest and will lower when at rest, as weight decreases, amount
of exercise increases, as well as in the female gender.

Materials and Methods
This experiment requires only relatively basic exercise equipment and
cardiovascular measuring tools. A 33 cm or 40 cm tall step was used as the exercise
equipment depending on whether the individual was less than 5 6 or equal to or taller
than 5 6 respectively. A standard sphygmomanometer and stethoscope were used to
take blood measure readings, and pulse counts were recorded by a pulse counter using a
stopwatch to keep time. A stopwatch and metronome were also used to keep time and
pace respectively during the stepping exercise. (Nelson & Burpee, 2014)
First, all recorders of cardiovascular data were trained on how to properly operate
the sphygmomanometer and use it in combination with a stethoscope to record blood
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pressures. The sphygmomanometer consists of a bulb which is used to inflate the
inflatable cuff and a pressure gauge where blood pressure can be measured. The
stethoscope is placed on the brachial artery and the cuff is wrapped around the
individuals bare arm. The valve on the bulb is closed, but not too tightly and then the
cuff was inflated to around 175 mm Hg. The cuff is then slowly deflated. Systolic
pressure is recorded when the first faint thumping is heard through the stethoscope, and
when sound is no longer heard through the stethoscope diastolic pressure is recorded.
Pulse counts are recorded on the wrist or on the neck by the trachea. (Nelson & Burpee,
2014)
Personal history data was then obtained from all individuals in the background
data table. Then the first set of cardiovascular data was collected. Each set of
cardiovascular data consisted of a 30-second pulse count as well as a blood pressure
recording broken down into systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Both measurements
were only recorded once for each set of data and it was all recorded in the background
data table as well. The first set of data was the resting data set recorded before any
exercise was done. (Nelson & Burpee, 2014)
Individuals then completed the first step exercise which was a four count activity
starting with an individual standing on the ground in front of the step. The four counts
were (1) step onto the step with one leg, (2) step onto the step with the other leg so that
both feet are on the step, 3) step down from the step with one leg, and (4) step down from
the step with the other leg so that both feet are on the ground again and together all 4
counts constitute a step. The first step exercise consisted was 60 counts per minute or 15
steps per minute. This was done for one minute, and then the individual was instructed to
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sit for 15 seconds before the next set of cardiovascular data was obtained and recorded in
Table 1. The individual was allowed to recover and then a second step exercise was
performed, but this time at 120 counts per minute or 30 steps per minute. The last set of
cardiovascular data is then obtained and recorded fifteen seconds after the individual
completes this step exercise. All of the cardiovascular measurements, step exercises, and
personal history recordings were repeated for every participant. (Nelson & Burpee, 2014)
Data analysis was then done on the data collected for each of the three categories
to be analyzed: gender, exercise, and weight. First each data set was divided into two
groups. For weight the groups were <150 pounds and >=150 pounds, for exercise the
groups were <4 hours per week and >=4 hours per week, and for gender the groups were
male and female. Percent differences were calculated as the change in heart rate after
each step exercise normalized by the resting hear rate using the following formula:
([Exercise Value- Resting Value]/Resting Value) Averages were also calculated for each
of the six groups (3 different factors with two groups each) for each section of
cardiovascular data using the standard average formula (Sum of data/ total number of
data entries). Standard errors were also calculated for every all the cardiovascular data
from all 6 groups using a standard error formula (standard deviation of the data set/
square root of the number of data entries in that set). A T-Test was then done in order to
get a p value to determine if there was any significant difference between the two data
groups being analyzed for each of the 3 analyses using a two tailed distribution and two-
sample unequal variance. (Nelson & Burpee, 2014)

Results
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Exercise Analysis









































Table 3: Normalized average change , Standard Error, and T-Test values
in systolic BP after exercise for the exercise factor analysis
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
Sys.BP <4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise <4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise p value
15-steps 0.091199776 0.079443508 0.011122008 0.008190465 0.395669
30-steps 0.172931298 0.188717543 0.014267454 0.012958856 0.413616

Table 4: Normalized average change , Standard Error, and T-Test values
in diastolic BP after exercise for the exercise factor analysis
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
Dias.BP <4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise <4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise p value
15-steps 0.049977848 0.059797934 0.016215691 0.015323972 0.66024
30-steps 0.092784191 0.090492469 0.014409618 0.018267968 0.921625

Figure 1: Average Resting Values for Pulse Count,
Systolic Blood Pressure, and Diastolic Blood Pressure for
both the <4 hours per week of exercise and >= 4 hours
per week of exercise groups in the exercise factor
analysis with standard errors given by error bars. The
difference between the average pulse count data from
each group is significant according to the T-test.
Figure 2: Average change in 30 second pulse counts
normalized by the resting values for both the <4
hours per week exercise and >= 4 hours of exercise
per week groups for both the 15-steps per minute
and 30-steps per minute exercises in the exercise
factor analysis with standard error given by error
bars
***
Table 1: Average, Standard Error, and T-test values for Pulse count,
Systolic BP, and Diastolic Bp at resting level values for the exercise factor analysis
Average Standard Error T-test
<4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise <4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise p value
Pulse count 38.50339286 36.91600806 0.569378267 0.455371239 0.030536
Sys.BP 119.0178571 119.3064516 1.203610382 0.813614921 0.842743
Dias.BP 74.40178571 74.78225806 0.803032763 0.847201196 0.744761

Table 2: Normalized average change, Standard Error, and T-Test values
in pulse count/30sec after exercise for the exercise factor analysis
Pulse count
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
<4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise <4 hours exercise >=4 hours exercise p value
15-steps 0.226571979 0.223199598 0.019813173 0.022873362 0.911362
30-steps 0.522199096 0.517118211 0.02496082 0.022215689 0.87928

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For the exercise factor, the only data that contains a significant difference between
the <4 hours of exercise per week group and >=4 hours per week group is the resting 30
second pulse count shown both in Table 1 and in Figure 1. In this data set, the >=4 hours
per week of exercise group was shown to have a lower value for pulse count of
approximately 37 as compared to the >4 hours group that displayed an average pulse
value of approximately 39. The data displayed in Figure 2, Figure 3, and Figure 4, and
in Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4 as well as the Systolic and Diastolic BP data from
Table 1 and Figure 1 contained no significant differences between the two groups, and
no clear trends were visible.

Figure 3: Average change in systolic blood pressure
normalized by the resting values for both the <4 hours
per week exercise and >= 4 hours of exercise per week
groups for both the 15-steps per minute and 30-steps
per minute exercises in the exercise factor analysis
with standard error given by error bars
Figure 4: Average change in diastolic blood pressure
normalized by the resting values for both the <4
hours per week exercise and >= 4 hours of exercise
per week groups for both the 15-steps per minute
and 30-steps per minute exercises in the exercise
factor analysis with standard error given by error
bars
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Gender Factor


































Table 5: Average, Standard Error, and T-test values for Pulse count,
Systolic BP, and Diastolic Bp at resting level values for the gender factor analysis
Average Standard Error T-test
Females Males Females p value
Pulse count 37.74675 37.56765 0.462503 0.585131 0.810462
Sys.BP 117.4627 121.4118 0.929911 1.070088 0.005816
Dias.BP 73.39552 76.18627 0.783271 0.858198 0.017133
Table 6: Normalized average change, Standard Error, and T-Test values
in pulse count/30sec after exercise for the gender factor analysis
Pulse count
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
Females Males Females Males p value
15-steps 0.214859 0.23786 0.017555 0.026688 0.472415
30-steps 0.526571 0.510278 0.022401 0.024761 0.626063
Table 7: Normalized average change , Standard Error, and T-Test values
in systolic BP after exercise for the gender factor analysis
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
Sys.BP Females Males Females Males p value
15-steps 0.077473 0.094941 0.008931 0.010473 0.205789
30-steps 0.175011 0.18939 0.01257 0.014872 0.461094
Table 8: Normalized average change , Standard Error, and T-Test values
in diastolic BP after exercise for the gender factor analysis
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
Dias.BP Females Males Females Males p value
15-steps 0.0536 0.057158 0.016067 0.014794 0.870723
30-steps 0.08876 0.095285 0.014696 0.019256 0.787894
Figure 5: Average Resting Values for Pulse Count, Systolic
Blood Pressure, and Diastolic Blood Pressure for both the
male and female groups in the gender factor analysis with
standard errors given by error bars. The differences
between the two groups for both the Systolic and diastolic
BP averages are significant according to the T-Test
Figure 6: Average change in 30 second pulse counts
normalized by the resting values for both the male and
female groups for both the 15-steps per minute and 30-steps
per minute exercises in the gender factor analysis with
standard error given by error bars
***
***
9













For the gender factor, the only data sets that contain a significant difference
between the female group and the male group are the resting Diastolic and Systolic Blood
Pressures shown both in Table 5 and in Figure 5. For the Diastolic BP, the female group
was shown to have a lower average value of approximately 73 as compared to the male
group that displayed an average value of approximately 76. For the Systolic BP, the
female group was again shown to have a lower average value of approximately 117 as
compared to the male group that displayed an average value of approximately 121. The
data displayed in Figure 6, Figure 7, and Figure 8, and in Table 6, Table 7, and Table 8
as well as the average Pulse Count Data from Table 5 and Figure 5 contained no
significant differences between the two groups. However a slight trend of males having
higher in data in almost every table and figure can be seen, but it is often considered
insignificant due to high standard errors.
Figure 7: Average change in systolic blood
pressure normalized by the resting values for both
the male and female groups for both the 15-steps
per minute and 30-steps per minute exercises in
the gender factor analysis with standard error
given by error bars
Figure 8: Average change in diastolic blood
pressure normalized by the resting values for
both the male and female groups for both the
15-steps per minute and 30-steps per minute
exercises in the gender factor analysis with
standard error given by error bars
10

Weight factor




















Table 9: Average, Standard Error, and T-test values for Pulse count,
Systolic BP, and Diastolic Bp at resting level values for the weight factor analysis

Average Standard Error T-test
<150 pounds >=150 pounds <150 pounds >=150 pounds p value
Pulse count 37.94035156 37.34814815 0.505708 0.523212 0.416574
Sys.BP 117.2734375 121.4166667 1.035701 0.914682 0.003007
Dias.BP 73.21875 76.24074074 0.78596 0.852365 0.009752
Table 10: Normalized average change, Standard Error, and T-Test values
in pulse count/30sec after exercise for the weight factor analysis
Pulse count
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
<150 pounds >=150 pounds <150 pounds >=150 pounds p value
15-steps 0.199223846 0.255112588 0.017041 0.026241 0.075671
30-steps 0.499716724 0.543011261 0.022391 0.024638 0.194774
Table 11: Normalized average change , Standard Error, and T-Test values
in systolic BP after exercise for the weight factor analysis
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
Sys.BP <150 pounds >=150 pounds <150 pounds >=150 pounds p value
15-steps 0.073721064 0.098417349 0.009024 0.010232 0.071592
30-steps 0.164937214 0.200530716 0.013415 0.013502 0.06274
Table 12: Normalized average change , Standard Error, and T-Test values
in diastolic BP after exercise for the weight factor analysis
av. % diff Standard Error T-test
Dias.BP <150 pounds >=150 pounds <150 pounds >=150 pounds p value
15-steps 0.043701226 0.06869172 0.015056 0.01647 0.263934
30-steps 0.078418956 0.107178419 0.01443 0.019151 0.231755
11















































Figure 9: Average Resting Values for Pulse Count,
Systolic Blood Pressure, and Diastolic Blood Pressure for
both the <150 pounds and>=150 pounds groups in the
weight factor analysis with standard errors given by
error bars. The difference between the two groups for
both the Systolic and Diastolic BP averages was
considered significant by the T-Test.
Figure 10: Average change in 30 second pulse counts
normalized by the resting values for both the <150
pounds and >= 150 pounds groups for both the 15-
steps per minute and 30-steps per minute exercises
in the weight factor analysis with standard error
given by error bars
Figure 11: Average change in systolic blood pressure
normalized by the resting values for both the <150
pounds and >= 150 pounds groups for both the 15-
steps per minute and 30-steps per minute exercises
in the weight factor analysis with standard error
given by error bars
Figure 12: Average change in diastolic blood pressure
normalized by the resting values for both the <150
pounds and >= 150 pounds groups for both the 15-steps
per minute and 30-steps per minute exercises in the
weight factor analysis with standard error given by error
bars
***
***
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For the weight factor, the only data sets that contain a significant difference
between the <150 pounds group and the >=150 pounds are the resting Diastolic and
Systolic Blood Pressures shown both in Table 9 and in Figure 9. For the Diastolic BP,
the <150 pounds group was shown to have a lower average value of approximately 73 as
compared to the >=150 pounds group that displayed an average value of approximately
76. For the Systolic BP, the <150 pounds group was again shown to have a lower average
value of approximately 117 as compared to the >=150 pounds group that displayed an
average value of approximately 121. The data displayed in Figure 10, Figure 11, and
Figure 12, and in Table 10, Table 11, and Table 12 as well as the average Pulse Count
Data from Table 9 and Figure 9 contained no significant differences between the two
groups. However a slight trend of the >=150 pound group having higher in data in almost
every table and figure can be seen, but it is often considered insignificant due to high
standard errors.

Discussion

All of the initial hypotheses were supported by the data that was found to be
significant, but there was not significant data to support some aspects of the hypothesis.
In the gender group females had lower resting blood pressures, a sign of positive
cardiovascular health, as shown in Figure 5 and Table 5 which supports that facet of the
initial hypothesis as well as preexisting literature on the topic. (Barrett-Connor, 1997)
(Parikh, 2011) (Smelser & Bates,2001) In the weight group, those in the <150 pounds
group also had lower resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures, as shown in Table 9
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and Figure 9, which again is a sign of goof cardiovascular health, thus also supporting
the initial hypothesis and the preexisting literature on the topic. (Manson et. al., 1995)
(Hu, 2005) In the exercise group, those who exercised >=4 hours per week were shown to
have significantly lower pulse count, as shown in Table 1 and Figure 1 which is also a
sign of positive cardiovascular health, and thus this part of the hypothesis was also
supported by this experiment and also supports preexisting literature. (Paffenbarger et.
al., 1993) (Myers, 2003) (Luepker et. al., 1996)
However, with all of these conclusions and trends it must be said that only one or
two data sets for each factor proved to be significant and they were all at resting levels.
This leads to the conclusion that the goals of this experiment, to obtain data about
different individuals cardiac health and their physiology and analyze this data before and
during exercise and also to evaluate what factors are important in cardiovascular fitness
through connecting the cardiovascular data with personal histories, were only partially
fulfilled. Data collection and analysis was done, but none of the exercise data ended up
being significant and useful data, so the connections drawn back to the cardiovascular
health of the groups cannot be made with much confidence. There were a few other data
trends mentioned in the references section but none contained enough significant data to
be considered significant.
Once source of error in this experiment that couldve caused the lack of
significant data is the fact that all individuals were relatively young, between the ages of
18 and 27, and younger people in general tend to have healthier hearts and their bad
cardiovascular habits have probably not had time to catch up with them yet to the extent
that they would be reflected in measures of their cardiovascular health. Doing this
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experiment with an older group of individuals may be beneficial in solving this problem.
Also, individuals couldve been dishonest about any aspects of their personal history
which would cause an error and not allow for significant data. Measuring data wherever
possible, such as weighing people and taking their heights, could help to ensure more
accurate personal histories. Another possible source of error could also be that the
exercise done was not vigorous enough to provoke a significant change in any measures
of cardiovascular health. This could potentially be fixed by making the step exercises last
for longer. An additional source of error could have also stemmed from inaccurate blood
pressure recordings stemming from the fact that it was very loud when the blood
pressures were being taken and thus the soft heart sounds were often difficult to make
out. This could be fixed by taking the blood pressures in a separate quiet room, or by
doing trials on different individuals one at a time instead of at the same time.
The relevance of this data is that it, like many other studies of its kind, show what
factors contribute to good cardiovascular health and thus it can help to educate the
general population on what to do to keep their hearts healthy. Going forward, doing
more of these studied and applying the changes suggested in the previous paragraph
would provide even more useful data on the subject. The question as to whether or not
stress is significant factor in cardiovascular disease would also be interesting to test and
could be incorporated into further experiments as well in order to ensure that everyone in
the population can know what habits are best in order to have a healthy cardiovascular
system.
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References
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