Animal Cruelty, Obliterating Arteries, and Insurance Actuaries: How Medicine Recognized the Dangers of Hypertension

We trace the origins of how medicine first understood and measured blood pressure. From early fluid-pressure experiments and invasive animal studies to the invention of the modern blood-pressure cuff, we follow the slow realization that chronically elevated blood pressure is dangerous. We also explore the long-standing debate surrounding "essential hypertension" and how research—from Janeway's observations to insurance-company data and the Framingham Study—ultimately shifted medical practice toward active treatment.

Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Intro: History of Blood Pressure
• (00:01:35) - What is Blood Pressure
• (00:03:53) - Normal vs High Blood Pressure
• (00:04:48) - Histories View of Hypertension
• (00:07:35) - The Origin of Blood Pressure Measurement
• (00:09:12) - Stephen Hales & Animal Experiments
• (00:12:44) - Measurement Devices
• (00:15:55) - Early Clues of Danger: Kidneys, Hearts
• (00:19:25) - What Famous Clinicians Believed
• (00:24:31) - Hypertensions Dangers Emerge
• (00:25:27) - Insurance Actuaries Enter the Scene
• (00:27:20) - The Framingham Heart Study
• (00:27:52) - Closing