The correlation of skin blood flow with age, total cholesterol, hematocrit, blood pressure, and hemoglobin.

Normal skin blood flow at the deltoid region in 55 men whose ages ranged from 20 to 72 years was measured by the xenon-133 clearance method. In addition, the correlation of skin blood flow with age, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, hematocrit, hemoglobin, and total protein was analyzed by multiple regression analysis. The following results were obtained. Normal skin blood flow was found to decrease with increase in age, total cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure and showed a tendency to increase with elevation in hematocrit and hemoglobin values. Of the six parameters examined in the present study, the parameter that showed the strongest correlation with skin blood flow at the deltoid region was age, followed in decreasing order by total cholesterol, hematocrit, systolic blood pressure, and hemoglobin. It could therefore be concluded that age is the most reliable factor in clinically estimating skin blood flow. Furthermore, inasmuch as total cholesterol, hematocrit, systolic blood pressure and hemoglobin values also were correlated with skin blood flow, these values also should be taken in account in the synthetic evaluation of skin blood flow. It was skin blood flow at the deltoid region that was strongly correlated with age. This was followed by systolic blood pressure, hematocrit, and hemoglobin. Total cholesterol showed a weak correlation with age, but total protein did not demonstrate any correlation with skin blood flow and age. The results of the present study show that skin blood flow would be poor in the elderly and in patients with arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and anemia. Since it is suggested that the wound-healing process is delayed in such patients, utmost care should be exercised in treating their wounds.