View report page

By reason of the friendship existing between the Twickenham Borough
Council and the National Physical Laboratory, I was afforded the very great
courtesy of having the assistance of the staff of the Mathematics Division, who
helped with the punching, sorting and the electronic calculations. Without this
assistance the procedure could not have been tackled at all and we should have
had to be content with a much less accurate method. I think the results
proved the effort to be well worth while.
The factor analysis revealed four factors or common influences:—
Factor 1. Healthiness. The influence operating on this group kept them
healthy. They were mostly men aged 60 to 64 and were completely free
from disease. Their haemoglobin levels were high and their blood pressures
low.
Factor 2. Infection and Anaemia. In this group there were both men
and women aged 70 to 74. Their haemoglobin was low, their blood pressures
rising. They suffered from bronchitis and other diseases of the chest, and
anaemia—sometimes quite severe. It is quite likely that these people had
a deficiency of iron in their diet and possibly of other trace elements like
boron, manganese, molybdenum, copper, etc., and possibly also some deficiency
of protein; because there is reason to believe that deficiencies such as
these render living animals and plants susceptible not only to deficiency
diseases but also to infection.
Factor 3. Obesity, Hypertension and Multiple Disabilities. This group
was made up mainly of women aged 65 to 79. Their haemoglobin was
slightly below normal and their blood pressure moderately high. The most
important finding was obesity; this is the group of fat old women with rising
blood pressure. They also have multiple illnesses and disabilities, the most
frequent being uterine prolapse, diabetes, asthma, myxoedema, bronchitis,
anaemia and osteo-arthritis.
These women may well have the same deficiencies of diet as in Factor 2,
but they have also the rising blood pressure. A possible cause for this is
deficiency of choline, a substance found in egg yolk. In working-class
households it is common for the women to deny themselves the expensive
protein and protective foods, which usually go to the men; the women instead
live mostly on starchy foods, especially bread and margarine and jam, or
bread and dripping. They tend to put on weight in the 30's getting fatter
and fatter as they get older; some even reach 18 stones in weight.
Factor 4. Malignant Hypertension. This group have severe high blood
pressure; with this go enlargement and failure of the heart, and angina. It
is associated with obesity but not always, for there are people with high blood
pressures who are not obese.
The Nature of the Factors.
It is curious and interesting that the four factors are closely related to
blood pressure, the outlook becoming worse as the blood pressure rises. In
round figures about one-fifth of the over 60's are healthy and have low blood
pressure; two-fifths have infections and anaemia and rising blood pressure; onefifth
have obesity, multiple disabilities and moderately high blood pressure;
and one-fifth have severe high blood pressure. About half the people who are ill
16