COMLEX Osteopathic Medicine

Answer - D - The heart is a pump. It produces pressure, which causes blood to be pushed throughout the body. In order to check how efficient the heart is, providers use a blood pressure measurement. When the pressure is high, such as with coronary artery disease, the heart has to work harder to push blood through the body. Blood pressure can also rise as heart rate increases. When exercising, the heart rate increases and so does the blood pressure in order to supply enough oxygen to the body to allow for the increase in energy that the exercise has caused.