RED BLOOD CELL VELOCITY CHANGES WITH AGE AND SEX IN THE COMMON CAROTID AND SUPRA-ORBITAL ARTERIES

: Doppler-shifted ultrasound and spectral analysis were used to assess signals from the resting supra-orbital artery and the common carotid artery at the base of the neck of 658 (270 male, 388 female) asymptomatic subjects aged 5 to 90 years. The sonagrams obtained showed two peaks (A and B) during cardiac systole. The ratio of these peaks (A/B) decreased from 20 to 50 years and then levelled out. The male A/B ratios from both arteries were higher than those for the females between 20 and 50 years, and for the common carotid these differences were highly significant (P less than 0.001).