Dear Louis,
Doctors and other medical workers in Australia (sadly) use millimetres of
mercury for blood pressure. Your typical figure of 13 - 8 would be written
as 130/80 and read as 130 over 80.
One problem with this use of a unit as a jargon is that the pressures cannot
be easily compared with other pressure measures; for example is the pressure
in your car tyres higher or lower than your blood pressure.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
CAMS - Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist
- United States Metric Association
ASM - Accredited Speaking Member
- National Speakers Association of Australia
Member, International Federation for Professional Speakers
--
on 2002/03/19 16.37, Louis JOURDAN at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> At 9:28 +0100 02/03/18, Han Maenen wrote:
>> Alas, for the medical sector the mmHg used to measure blood pressure is
>> sacred. Its abolition met such resistance that it has now become a unit
>> which is indefinitely recognized. The claim is that adopting the pascal
>> would endanger human life.
>
> Effectively in the EU, a directive (85/1/EEC) definitively allows the
> use of "mm Hg for the measure of blood pressure and other body
> fluids". The directive indeed follows a recommendation of the World
> Health Organization.
>
> Strange enough, whilst millimeters are the "official" unit, the
> common language uses centimeters : a typical figure being "13 - 8",
> not 130 - 80.
>
> May be our body is not SI designed ?
>
> Louis
>
