P-Values

Kristin Caroza
Davis Legaspi-David
Ayessa Escandar
Leslie Ramos
Intro to Research and Quantitative Statistics Paper
Title
The effects of academic examinations on blood pressure of occupational therapy students
Identify the Research Question
Will academic exams effect the blood pressure of Occupational Therapy students of Touro
Universitys 2016 cohort?
Statement of Hypothesis
Students blood pressure will increase the day before their anatomy exam.
Background Literature Review
Kang, Y. (2010). Psychological stress-induced changes in salivary alpha-amylase and adrenergic
activity. Nursing & Health Sciences, 12(4), 477-484. doi: 10.1111/j.14422018.2010.00562.x
What is the problem or issue that your study addresses?
Physical and mental health conditions are arising more from stress and increasing
economic burden on the healthcare system. In the USA, stress-related disorders have already cost
$42 billion per year in 2001. Also, according to the World Health Organization, by the year 2020,
stress related mental health conditions will be highly prevalent and will be second only to
ischemic heart disease. In order to prevent detrimental effects of stress on individuals, much
effort has been made in health-related disciplines, to relieve and manage stress. Therefore this
study is aimed to determine the level of salivary alpha-amylase as a measure of adrenergic
activity that is useful as a physiological marker of psychological stress. Specifically, the study
will attempt to examine the relationships among salivary amylase concentration, plasma
catecholamine levels, blood pressure, and heart rate during psychological stress
Why is it important?
This study is important because in order to better cope with stress or to eliminate some
stress, it is important to first identify how stress may affect human responses. Therefore, it is

necessary to measure several types of human responses, such as blood pressure, to identify if
there is a correlation.
What is known about the topic? (This refers to your literature review)
In this study, college students were recruited through flyers and announcements at their
university. Thirty-three healthy, unmediated, non-smoking college students participated and were
allocated into an experimental group of 16 participants and a control group of the remaining 17
participants. For the experiment, the academic final-term test of a college sophomore major
course was used to measure psychological stress. The levels of salivary alpha-amylase and
plasma catecholamines, blood pressure, and heart rate were measured. The obtained data were
analyzed by the Statistical Package for Social Science software program. The results, specific to
systolic and diastolic blood pressures showed that there were significant increases in both the
systolic and diastolic blood pressure before the experiment and decreases after the experiment.
What has worked?
The sampling of blood pressure was taken in a 15 minute interval for a total of four times
before the stress event and at 15 minute intervals for 30 minutes after the stress event. Therefore,
seven samples were acquired from each participant. The participants anxiety levels were verbally
attained prior to and following the test. The overall stress level was verbally questioned a single
time after the psychological stress event. Through this data collection and after data analysis, the
researchers were able to determine that there was a significant difference between the
experimental and control group.
How will your study add to the knowledge base once it is done?
This study is similar to the study we are conducting by evaluating students and the
relation of their blood pressures to the stress of an exam. Therefore, this study concludes by
supporting our hypothesis that with an increase in stress, such as the anatomy exam, blood
pressure will increase as well.
What new information will your study add to our understanding of the topic or addressing the
topic/problem?
Our study will provide the basic knowledge of how the increase of blood pressure can
correlate with the stresses of taking an exam. Also, it can provide further knowledge or a basic
foundation to other researches that maybe trying to understand possible illnesses that may
develop through induced stress levels. Lastly, it can be used as an aid when potentially
developing an intervention for stress management.
Hughes, B. M. (2005). Study, examinations, and stress: blood pressure assessments in college
students. Educational Review, 57(1), 21-36. doi: 10.1080/0013191042000274169
What is the problem or issue that your study addresses?

The peer review article that I have chosen brings up the correlation of how stress leads to
anxiety, which ultimately negatively affects the academic performance of college students.
Particularly, in the article it talks about how college students academic performances are
hindered due to the mental, behavioral, interpersonal development, and physical stresses that
there schools have placed upon them. Furthermore, the article goes more in debt by addressing
how there are numerous researches the talks about the relationship between student stress on
mental health, but a lack of research geared towards how student life influences physical health
specifically, blood pressure.
Why is it important?
Well from a medical perspective, it is important to figure out what aspects of student life
causes blood pressure levels to elevate among students, and what the extent of the impact might
be. Blood pressure responses to psychological stresses remain a significant indicator of the risk
of future illnesses such as heart disease.
What is known about the topic? (This refers to your literature review)
There are many stressors that typically emerge from studies done that are based on
student life, such as relationship problems, loneliness, money problems and parental problems.
However, one stressor that is constantly brought up by students is their concern about their
grades. Student grade results have shown to be the most frequently reported precursor to a
depressive episode among students who participated in a large multi-site North American survey
in the late 1980s and was again the most reported in a follow up study conducted 10 years later.
What has worked?
One of the procedures that were successful in this research study was the control group
methodology during observation of examination results and cardiovascular reactivity. By
computing for partial correlation to control gender, it resulted in a significantly positive
association between academic performance and systolic blood pressure.
How will your study add to the knowledge base once it is done?
My groups study will add further knowledge towards specifically addressing whether or
not first year occupational therapy students tend to develop arise in their blood pressure level due
to certain class exams.
What new information will your study add to our understanding of the topic or addressing the
topic/problem?
Based on the experimental procedure that my group has developed for our research study,
the new information that we will potentially add is to be able to determine an early timeframe of
when blood pressure tends to rise amongst first year occupational therapist student. Specifically,
does blood pressure rise closer towards exam day or does it occur way earlier. Also, how do the
blood pressure levels of the students compare a day after the exam?

Conley, K. M., & Lehman, B. J. (2012). Test Anxiety and Cardiovascular Responses to Daily
Academic Stressors. Stress and Health, 28(1), 41-50. doi: 10.1002/smi.1399
What is the problem or issue that your study addresses?
This study addresses how daily academic stressors and test anxiety affect blood pressure
on undergraduate students.
Why is it important?
This study acknowledges the academic stressors and test anxiety of college students in
relation to elevated blood pressure. These young individuals continue to put their hearts under
stress which will lead to a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and negative health outcomes.
It is crucial for students to learn how to cope with everyday stresses and high test anxiety to
manage future academic courses and potential job success. It will be inevitable that everyday
stress will occur so it is important for the individual to learn how to manage their health and
blood pressure.
What is known about the topic? (This refers to your literature review)
Previous research have distinguish between two types of academic stressors, acute
stressors and anticipatory stressors. Acute stressors are short-term and immediate threats on a
goal like taking an examination. In contrast, anticipatory stressors are long-term events that may
influence a goal in the future such as writing a paper. In a previous study, blood pressure
elevates during anticipatory stress situations and significantly increases during acute stress
events. Academic stressors that have been reported from college students are from
examinations, papers, presentations, and studying. Even among young healthy participants of
increase cardiovascular responses, they may still be at risk for heart disease and early
hypertension in adulthood.
What has worked?
This study was conducted during five consecutive weekdays. The participants wore an
ambulatory blood pressure monitor and were required to complete a brief assessment on their
posture, activity level, food consumption, and others. Participants completed an end-of-day
report which indicates the most stressful events, reasons why the event was stressful, and the
time of day the event occurred. In addition, test anxiety was measured by a four point Likert
scale that consisted of 20 items. These measures worked as the results show an increase of blood
pressure during acute academic stress events among students that were reported with high test
anxiety.
How will your study add to the knowledge base once it is done?
Our study involves 16 graduate students in an accelerated occupational therapy program.
Throughout the program, our participants will undergo many acute academic stress events that

may affect their overall health and blood pressure. We believe that our participants will show
increase blood pressure during anticipatory academic stressors because of the high pace nature of
the OT program. In this article, the results did not show significant findings on high blood
pressure during anticipatory academic stress. Our finding may contribute to this knowledge base
by looking at participants in a higher level of education and a higher intensity of academic stress.
What new information will your study add to our understanding of the topic or addressing the
topic/problem?
Our study has the potential to present new information in regards to blood pressure levels
before and after a big examination in an accelerated graduate school program. Most studies have
been done on undergraduate school students. In addition, our participants range from 22 to 47
years of age. The additional stress and anxiety that comes with age such as children and
independent living can influence blood pressure
Zhang, Z., Su, H., Peng, Q., Yang, Q., & Cheng, X. (2011). Exam Anxiety Induces Significant
Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Increase in College Students. Clinical & Experimental
Hypertension, 33(5), 281-286. doi: 10.3109/10641963.2010.53185
What is the problem or issue that your study addresses?
This study addresses the effects of increase anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate before
and during the examination period.
Why is it important?
This study is important because high blood pressure is a precursor to cardiovascular
disease, one of the leading causes of death among adults. One of the biggest stressors among
college students today are academic exams, which also correlates to a higher blood pressure.
Information from this experiment is important because it helps provide information on specific
factors that affect stress and health among college students as well as indorse initiatives to help
students cope with their stress as well as reduce risk factors of cardiovascular disease.
What is known about the topic? (This refers to your literature review)
Anxiety has been demonstrated as an independent factor for hypertension (FHH).
Individuals with family hypertensive history had a higher blood pressure (BP) increase amplitude
during review sessions and exam periods. Results indicate that the students with FHH are
susceptible to anxiety, higher BP and, heart rate in the peri-exam period.
What has worked?

The study indicated that that blood pressure increased gradually from the basic period to
the exam period. Also, a significant increase of blood pressure occurred during review period. As
for the result of blood pressure for participants with anxiety, the study indicated that anxiety is an
independent factor for a blood pressure increase although blood pressure was somewhat higher
in the anxiety group than in the non-anxiety group. Therefore, blood pressure increase during
exam period in young medical students, and their increased amplitudes are positively connected
with the extent of anxiety.
How will your study add to the knowledge base once it is done?
Our study is quite similar to this experiment in the fact that we are measuring blood
pressure of students in response to the stress of an academic exam. In the case of our study, we
are adding to the knowledge base by specifically measuring the blood pressure of Occupational
Therapy Grad-School students in response to a difficult Anatomy midterm.
What new information will your study add to our understanding of the topic or addressing the
topic/problem?
New information that our study will add to the understanding of the topic in regards to
the effects of academic exams on blood pressure is that our sample includes a large range of ages
starting with individuals as young as 22 to as old as 47. We could further add possible new
information on the effect of academic exams on the blood pressure of students in early adulthood
versus middle adulthood.
Methods General Design of Study
What type of quantitative study will this be?
Non Experimental: Correlational Design
Why did you choose this type of research design?
We chose this design because we wanted to see the relationship between blood pressure
of students and academic exams.
Who is in your sample?
Our participants include the Occupational Therapy Students of Touro University
Nevadas 2016 cohort. We used a simple random sample method using a computer
generated list that assigned students to a number. Then, the research group members who
were blind to the list of students and their assigned numbers randomly selected numbers
to determine who will be in their study.
What are the procedures for conducting data in your study?
We are going to collect the blood pressure of students a week before a midterm exam, the
day before the midterm exam, and a week after the midterm exam.
Are you using any other instruments to measure outcomes?
We are using a Sphygmomanometer.

What methods for data analysis are you planning on using? (SPSS, Excel)
Excel
Participant
Number

Age

Gender Blood
Pressure

Medications being used that may affect

blood pressure

Results Start with Participants:

1.

For what period of time did you recruit participants?

The first blood pressure examination was taken the day before the second
anatomy exam, which was on September 18, 2014. The second blood pressure
examination was taken during a week where there were no class examinations, which was
on September 23, 2014. We recruited participants between the week of August 25th to 29th
in order to allow sufficient time to let the participants know that they were randomly
chosen for the study and to receive their verbal consent.

2.

Who did you actually get in your study?

We used first year occupational therapy students from Touro University Nevada
who are currently undertaking an anatomy course. There were 4 males and 12 females in
our study with a mean age of 27.6 years. Refer to tables 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b.

3.

How many people were recruited, how many refused, and how many did you end up with?
How many completed the study? The drop-outs represent your attrition rate and you need
to explain why.
16 Occupational Therapy students from Touro University were recruited for the
study. All students who were recruited participated and completed the study.

4.

How many were randomly assigned to the control group or the treatment group?
Out of 36 first year occupational therapy students, 16 students were randomly
assigned to the treatment group.

Participant
Number

Age

Gender Blood
Pressure

Medications being used that may affect

blood pressure

22

N/A

120/82
117/80

22

120/80
145/90

N/A

26

122/88
118/78

N/A

47

130/78
115/75

N/A

32

100/70
100/70

N/A

25

110/78
110/78

N/A

23

110/68
110/70

N/A

23

120/88
118/80

N/A

22

120/80
120/80

N/A

10

22

110/80
116/80

N/A

11

22

116/80
112/78

N/A

12

24

116/76
116/80

YES

13

42

124/78
136/90

YES
YES

14

24

132/90
126/100

N/A

15

26

124/70
115/80

N/A

16

39

136/80
122/80

N/A

Discussion - you must interpret and evaluate your results to show how your findings can
contribute to the broader knowledge about your topic
Begin this section with a clear statement of support or nonsupport for your original
research hypotheses or research question.
As we obtained our results, we were able to conclude from our study that there was no
correlation between an increase in blood pressure before an exam compared to after an exam was
taken. By running a t-test on both systolic and diastolic measurements, our results displayed a
p-value 0.34 for systolic measurements and a p-value 0.19 for diastolic measurements. Therefore
with this newfound results, our group continues to still support our original research hypothesis
that students blood pressure will increase the day before their anatomy exam compared to after.
As a group, we continued to support our original hypothesis because we felt that there were
many limitations that could have caused our results to be skewed. Also, through reading further
studies that conducted a similar test as ours, many resulted that there was an increase of blood
pressure either during the test or right before.
If your hypotheses were not supported, offer explanations of why. Use literature from your
background section or find others.
As our group obtained the results of our study, we compared the differences we made
with gathering the measurements of blood pressures in comparison to how other researches did
it. In particular to one of the research articles our group read, Psychological Stress-Induced
Changes in Salivary Alpha-Amylase and Adrenergic Activity, one of the researches obtained their
measurements of blood pressure from their participants by taking 4 blood pressure
measurements, in 15-minute intervals, right before and after the exam took place. Also, in several
other research articles our group read, all blood pressure measurements were gathered right
before and after the exam. However, for our study we were only able to attain one blood pressure
measurement the day before the exam and one blood pressure measurement a couple of days
after. Due to an increase time gap between, taking the blood pressure of the participants
compared to when they actually took their anatomy exam could have caused a possibility to why
our hypothesis was not supported by our results.
In a second research article named, Study, Examinations, and Stress: Blood Pressure
Assessments in College Students, the blood pressure that was obtained from the participants was
through an automatic blood pressure device, consequently assuring that the blood pressure
measurement was accurate and consistent. As we compared this to our procedure of obtaining the
blood pressure measurement from our participants, every researcher took the blood pressure
from 4 participant which may have caused an inconsistency with the blood pressure
measurements. This component of our research could be another possibility to why our
hypothesis was not supported by our results.
Compare similarities and differences between your findings and other studies. If you do not
have enough studies to compare, then find them in the literature.

A comparison with our findings and the findings of other studies show a similarity
towards an increase in blood pressure with young college students during exams. In general, all
of our research has indicated an increase in systolic blood pressure due to academic stress such
as an anatomy exam our participants experienced. In the article, Psychological Stress-Induced
Changes in Salivary Alpha-Amylase and Adrenergic Activity, the data implicated that there were
significant increases in the participants systolic and diastolic blood pressure before the exam and
a decrease after. Our study indicated in Figure 2 that half the participants showed this same
pattern of an increase of blood pressure before the exam and a decrease after, however 31.3%
showed no difference, while 18.8% displayed the opposite results.
Explain surprising findings. This can mean going back to your background literature or
finding other literature. Did you find that one subset of your sample responded better to
the intervention versus another?
One of the surprising findings that we found from our research was that when examining
the group as a whole, some of the test subjects did not display the systolic blood pressure trend
that we were expecting to see before and after taking the anatomy exam. What we were assuming
was going to happen was that all of the test subjects were going to display a relatively higher
systolic blood pressure a day before taking the exam as compared to their systolic blood pressure
days after the exam. However, what ended up happening instead was that two of the test subjects
concluded with having a much higher blood systolic pressure compared to their initial blood
pressure measurements at the begin of the study. In addition, five of the subjects did not show
any change in their systolic blood pressure before and after the test. Furthermore, another
surprising finding was between the male and female subjects in our research. Our female
subjects on average tend to display a much higher systolic blood pressure before the exam
compared to our male subject. However, this trend switched because after the exam as our male
subjects ended up having a higher systolic blood pressure relative to their female counterparts.
Our last surprising finding was when comparing the systolic blood pressure between age groups.
Test subjects who are between the ages of 22 to 24 exhibited showing a higher systolic blood
pressure compared to subject who are 25 or above.
Draw conclusions from your findings. Situate your study in the grand theme of the
literature on your topic.
Although previous research indicated that the stress caused by academic exams correlated
with a rise in blood pressure, there was no significance in the effect of an anatomy exam on the
blood pressure of Occupational Therapy students of Touro University overall. Occupational
Therapy students from Touro University Nevada often undergo several other examinations
throughout their program. With the amount of previous experience in taking exams, it is possible
that the students had habituated to testing and felt less stressed before taking their anatomy
midterm. However, it is important to note that although the anatomy exam did not correlate to a
higher blood pressure on average among the students, there was a significance among different
age groups. While students who were 22-24 years of age experienced a slight increase of blood

pressure a week after the anatomy exam, students within the age group of 25-29 and 30+ years
old displayed a decrease in blood pressure a week after the anatomy exam on average. This data
suggests that older students may be more susceptible to a blood pressure increase and stress
caused by academic exams but return back to a normal temperament and blood pressure once the
exam is over.
Discuss any barriers to implementing an intervention or procedures.
The main barrier of this research was during the process of gathering blood pressure
measurements. Our group was not able to obtain the best measurements of blood pressure of
each participant due to time constraints. Not all participants would be willing to have their blood
test taken right before the exam because they could still be in the process of studying. Also,
because the researchers also had to take the same exam as the participants, we did not want to
use the time before the exam taking the participants blood pressures when we need to be
studying and focused for the exam. Additionally, participants in the study took the anatomy lab
exams during different times, therefore it would have been difficult to gather each participant
after each exam.

Limitations
Discuss potential limitations affecting internal validity or external validity, e.g., any sources
of bias such as sampling, imprecise measures, or other weaknesses in the study, etc.
When collecting data for our study, it was important to practice ethical research by
receiving informed consent by asking for the participants permission to take their blood pressure
a week prior to recording data. Due to the nature of informing participants ahead of time, it is
possible that it affected data because they knew that someone would be monitoring their blood
pressure, thus made them more conscious about their health. Other limitations that may affect
the internal validity of our study include the tools that were used to record blood pressure. In our
study, we used a manual sphygmomanometer in conjunction with a stethoscope to record blood
pressure instead of an electronic version. Using this method allows different variables of human
error including possible bias and misreading measurements. Another element that impacted our
study was that there were 2 students who were taking medications that influenced their blood
pressure. This indicated other physiological factors that impacted blood pressure among the
participants besides the stress from the academic exam. Our study is also sociologically limited
in its ability to generalize the gathered information to a larger population because all of the
participants were college graduates and were pursuing higher level education to be Occupational
Therapists. Since the participants were students within the health field, it is possible that they are
more conscious about maintaining wellness, thus affecting their blood pressure overall despite
the stressors of an academic exam.

Explain what remains unsolved at the end of your study. Here you can discuss
recommendations for future research.
Future research may expand on these finding in several ways. The participants in the
study consisted of a small sample size that included 16 first year occupational therapy graduate
students. In regards to age, it may be important to include age differences in response to
academic exams. Although we had participants ranging from ages 22 to 47, the sample is not the
best representation of that whole spectrum. Half of the participants were ages 22 to 24 and the
other half were grouped together in a range of 24 to 47. Increase blood pressure may be
influence by the increase of age. The increase of age leads to higher levels of responsibility in
terms of having a family, paying bills, etc. This can influence blood pressure on top of having to
study for an academic exam. In addition, the participants in the study were mainly female with
only 4 of 16 participants that were male. There wasnt a strong correlation in this study which
leads to exploring the differences in blood pressure between genders. Another area that can be
addressed is the time to take participants blood pressure before and after an exam. Multiple
blood pressure readings throughout the day may give an accurate measurement. Future research
should explore these potential connections.
Discusses limitations in the ability to generalize the findings.
Although our results did not show significant findings of elevated blood pressure before
academic exams, it is important for students to be aware of how stress impacts their overall
health. Our study showed a slight increase in systolic blood pressure the day before the exam
versus a week after. This result shows clinical significance in regards to changes in blood
pressure from academic exams. Managing a healthy blood pressure before high stress academic
exams may improve their performance. In addition, this would also prevent possible health
problems linked to stress like heart disease or hypertension. The occupational therapy students at
Touro University Nevada undergo a rigorous and accelerated program that includes many
academic examinations. An intervention may be important for those who show increases in their
blood pressure as a first year student because of the potential risk for their cardiovascular health.

References
Conley, K. M., & Lehman, B. J. (2012). Test Anxiety and Cardiovascular Responses to Daily

Academic Stressors. Stress and Health, 28(1), 41-50. doi: 10.1002/smi.1399

Kang, Y. (2010). Psychological stress-induced changes in salivary alpha-amylase and adrenergic
activity. Nursing & Health Sciences, 12(4), 477-484. doi:10.1111/j.14422018.2010.00562.x
Hughes, B. M. (2005). Study, examinations, and stress: blood pressure assessments in college
students. Educational Review, 57(1), 21-36. doi: 10.1080/0013191042000274169
Zhang, Z., Su, H., Peng, Q., Yang, Q., & Cheng, X. (2011). Exam Anxiety Induces Significant
Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Increase in College Students. Clinical & Experimental
Hypertension, 33(5), 281-286. doi: 10.3109/10641963.2010.53185

Tables and Figures:

160
140
120
100
Systolic BP

80
60

Before Exam
(systolic)

40

After Exam (systolic)

20
0

Individual Subjects

Figure 1a: Systolic Blood Pressure of the Individual Subjects. This figure illustrates the systolic
blood pressure of each subject by comparing the systolic blood pressure before and after the
exam.
120
100
80

Diastolic BP

60

Before Exam
(Diastolic)

40

After Exam (Diastolic)

20
0

Individual Subjects

Figure 1b: Diastolic Blood Pressure of the Individual Subjects. This figure illustrates the
diastolic blood pressure of each subject by comparing the systolic blood pressure before and after
the exam.

31%
Same Systolic BP
50%

Increase Systolic BP
Decrease Systolic BP
19%

Figure 2a: Systolic Blood Pressure of the Individual Subjects by Percentage. This figure
illustrates the percentage of how many participants had the same, increase, or decrease of
systolic blood pressure, before and after the exam.

31%

38%

Same Diastolic BP
Increased Diasolic BP
Decreased Diastolic BP

31%

Figure 2b: Diastolic Blood Pressure of the Individual Subjects by Percentage. This figure
illustrates the percentage of how many participants had the same, increase, or decrease of
diastolic blood pressure, before and after the exam.

160
140
120
100
Systolic BP

80

Male before exam

60

Male after exam

40
20
0
1

Male Individual Subjects

Figure 3a: Systolic Blood Pressure of Individual Male Subjects. This figure illustrates the
comparison of the systolic blood pressures of each individual male participant before and after
the exam.
100
90
80
70
60

Diastolic BP

50

Male Before Exam

40

Male After Exam

30
20
10
0

Male Individual Participants

Figure 3b: Diastolic Blood Pressure of Individual Male Subjects. This figure illustrates the
comparison of the diastolic blood pressures of each individual male participant before and after
the exam.

160
140
120
100
Systolic BP

80

Female before exam

Female after exam

60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Female Individual Participants

Figure 4a: Systolic Blood Pressure of Individual Female Subjects. This figure illustrates the
comparison of the systolic blood pressures of each individual female participant before and after
the exam.

120
100
80

Diastolic BP

60
40

Female Before Exam

Female After Exam

20
0

Female Individual Participants

Figure 4b: Diastolic Blood Pressure of Individual Female Subjects. This figure illustrates the
comparison of the diastolic blood pressures of each individual female participant before and after
the exam.

124
122
120
118
116
Systolic BP

114
systolic before

112

systolic after

110

Age Groups

Figure 5a: The Systolic Blood Pressure by Age Groups. This figure illustrates the average
systolic blood pressure by age groups and compares the measurements of their average systolic
blood pressures before and after the exam.
84
82
80
78
76

Diastolic BP 74

Diastolic Before

72

Diastolic After

70
68
66

Age 22-24 Age 25-29

Age 30+

Age Groups

Figure 5b: The Diastolic Blood Pressure by Age Groups. This figure illustrates the average
diastolic blood pressure by age groups and compares the measurements of their average diastolic
blood pressures before and after the exam.