An epitome of the consensus of opinion of the risk of accepting
persons for insurance as modified by the blood pressure is presented
by Quackenbos. [Footnote: Quackenbos: New York Med. Jour., May 15,
1915, p. 999.] Some companies have ruled that at the age of 20 they
will take a person with a systolic pressure up to 137; at the age of
30 up to 140; at the age of 40 up to 144; at 50 up to 148, and at 60
up to 153, although some companies will not accept a person who
shows a persistent systolic pressure of 150. Quackenbos says that
when persons with higher blood pressures than the foregoing have
been kept under observation for some time, they sooner or later show
albumin and casts in the urine. In other words, this stage of higher
blood pressure is too frequently followed by cardiovascular-renal
disease for insurance companies to accept the risk.

On the other hand, too low a systolic pressure in an adult, 105 mm.
or below, should cause suspicion of some serious condition, the most
frequent being a latent or quiescent tuberculosis. Such low pressure
certainly shows decreased power of resistance to any acute disease.

Statistics prove that there are more deaths between the ages of 40
and 50 from cardiovascular-renal disease, that is from heart,
arterial and kidney degenerations, than formerly. Whether this is
due to the high tension at which we all live, or to the fact that
more children are saved and live to middle life, or whether the
prevention of many infectious diseases saves deficient individuals
for this middle life period, has not been determined. Probably all
are factors in bringing about these statistics.

While the continued use of alcohol may not cause arteriosclerosis