Reference no: EM132856026

You are a nurse working in a heart health clinic and you are interested in the aortic stiffness in patients with and without hypertension. Measures of aortic stiffness were calculated from the aortic diameter evaluated by the M-mode echocardiography and blood pressure measured by a sphygmomanometer. Generally, the goal is to reduce aortic stiffness. In the 15 patients with hypertension (group 1), the mean aortic stiffness index was 19.16 with a standard deviation of 5.29. In the 30 control subjects (group 2), the mean aortic stiffness index was 9.53 with a standard deviation of 2.69. Do the 2 groups differ with respect to mean aortic stiffness? Assume that aortic stiffness values are approximately normally distributed in both groups, that the population variances are unknown and equal, and α=0.05. Show all of the steps and calculations you used to arrive at your answer.