What is the formula for cardiac output?

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Multiple Choice

What is the formula for cardiac output?

Explanation:
Cardiac output is the amount of blood the heart pumps per minute, and it depends on two numbers: heart rate (how many times the heart beats each minute) and stroke volume (how much blood is ejected with each beat). Multiply those two together to get cardiac output, typically expressed in liters per minute. For example, 70 beats per minute times about 70 mL per beat equals roughly 4.9 L per minute. Why the other ideas don’t fit: using blood pressure with heart rate mixes a pressure with timing and doesn’t measure flow per minute. Adding heart rate and stroke volume combines incompatible units and still wouldn’t give flow. Preload and afterload describe factors that influence how much blood is ejected per beat, not the total pumped per minute.

Cardiac output is the amount of blood the heart pumps per minute, and it depends on two numbers: heart rate (how many times the heart beats each minute) and stroke volume (how much blood is ejected with each beat). Multiply those two together to get cardiac output, typically expressed in liters per minute. For example, 70 beats per minute times about 70 mL per beat equals roughly 4.9 L per minute.

Why the other ideas don’t fit: using blood pressure with heart rate mixes a pressure with timing and doesn’t measure flow per minute. Adding heart rate and stroke volume combines incompatible units and still wouldn’t give flow. Preload and afterload describe factors that influence how much blood is ejected per beat, not the total pumped per minute.

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