THE "NORMAL" CARBON MONOXIDE CONTENT OF THE BLOOD

Abstract
The av. content of CO in the blood of 18 persons living in New York City under conditions of minimal exposure was found to be 0.27 vol. %. This represents about 1-1.5% of Hb combined with CO. The av. content of CO in the blood of 12 persons confined to a state institution in an ideal rural locality was found to be 0.24 vol. %. Most of these showed a Hb saturation of less than 1%. The av. content of CO in the blood of 12 New York City street cleaners was found to be 0.69 vol. %. This represents about 3% Hb saturation. Two taxi-cab drivers were found to have on several occasions a CO content ranging from 1.47 to 4.33 vol. %., a Hb saturation of 8-19%. Tobacco smoking appreciably increases the CO in the blood and cannot be ignored in the interpretation of laboratory results.