Relation of Blood Volume and Cardiac Output to Body Type

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Abstract
The relation between blood volume, cardiac output and body type as determined by Sheldon''s somatotyping procedure was investigated in 83 normal young men, 30 of whom belonged to so-called extreme types. Blood volumes were determined using the dye T-1824 and the cardiac outputs were detd. with the low frequency critically damped ballistocardiagraph. On the group of 53 subjects, which excludes extreme types, the mean values were as follows: plasma volume, 18.2 cc./cm. height, 1729 cc./m2. and 45.6 cc./kg.; total blood volume, 32.9 cc./cm. height, 3122 cc./m2 and 82.3 cc./kg.; hematocrit value, 44.7% (corrected for plasma trapping); serum protein concn., 6.88 g.% (refractometer); cardiac index, 35.4 cc./min./cm. height, 3.42 l./min./m2, and 90.6 cc./min./kg.; stroke index 0.56 cc./cm. height, 53.6 cc./m2 and 1.42 cc./kg. Emphasis is placed on the one hand on the limitations attending the appln. of avg. normal values for such functional characteristics as blood volume and cardiac output and, on the other hand, on the difficulties in attempting to establish the range of normal values. Evidence is given that disagreements among the results reported by various investigators on plasma volume, for example, are real differences and probably dependent to an undetd. extent on variations in the samplings of the population. Selection of individuals by Sheldon''s somatotyping scheme has only partly solved this problem for individuals in the middle ranges of types. In the extreme types, however, classification into groups greatly reduces the relative variability of the observations.
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