What does cardiac output represent?

Cardiac output represents the volume of blood that the heart pumps each minute. It is a critical parameter in understanding cardiovascular health and function, as it measures the effectiveness of the heart in delivering blood (and thus oxygen and nutrients) to the body. Cardiac output is typically calculated as the product of stroke volume (the amount of blood ejected with each heartbeat) and heart rate (the number of heartbeats per minute).

This concept is vital for assessing the performance of the heart, especially in clinical settings where understanding blood flow and perfusion to vital organs can impact patient care and intervention strategies. The other choices refer to related aspects of cardiovascular physiology but do not accurately define what cardiac output is. For instance, while the amount of oxygen supplied to tissues is indeed influenced by cardiac output, it does not define it. Similarly, the rate of heartbeats per minute contributes to cardiac output but is not the measurement itself, and systolic arterial pressure represents the pressure in the arteries but does not measure the volume of blood pumped by the heart.