Biracial study of arterial pressures in the first and second decades of life

The blood pressures of young Black and White American schoolchildren were measured and compared with those of Nigerian children of similar ages. Both diastolic and systolic pressures were consistently higher in the Nigerian children than in the Americans, both Black and White. The White children had the lowest pressures at each age. The mean weights and heights at each age were not significantly different in the three groups. Although the blood pressure of African children was higher than that of Black Americans, mean adult pressures are known to be similar in both groups. This suggests that the difference in childhood pressures must be due more to environmental factors than to genetic ones. © 1977, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.