Abstract
Peripheral blood flow and systolic blood pressure (strain gauge plethysmograph), blood volume (Evans blue), and whole blood viscosity (cone-plate viscometer) have been measured in 66 sick premature and full-term infants 6 to 144 hours of age. Blood flow and blood volume were moderately decreased in the infants with respiratory distress. Highly significant (P<0.001) correlations were found between blood flow and blood volume (r=0.77), blood pressure and blood volume (r=0.50), peripheral resistance and blood volume (r=-0.44), blood flow and pressure (r=0.50), blood flow and peripheral resistance (r=-0.67), peripheral resistance and blood viscosity (r=0.45), and blood viscosity and hematocrit (r=0.86). There was no correlation between peripheral flow and blood viscosity. However, at given blood volume peripheral blood flow decreased with increasing blood viscosity.
These results indicate that in newborn infants peripheral blood flow, blood pressure and peripheral resistance are influenced by blood volume, but also depend on blood viscosity.
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Linderkamp, O., Versmold, H., Strohhacker, I. et al. Peripheral circulation in the newborn: Interaction of peripheral blood flow, blood pressure, blood volume, and blood viscosity. Pediatr Res 13, 82 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197901000-00078
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197901000-00078