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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Hypertension in Sub-Saharan African populations
Circulation, Volume 112, No. 23, Year 2005
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Description
Background - Hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa is a widespread problem of immense economic importance because of its high prevalence in urban areas, its frequent underdiagnosis, and the severity of its complications. Methods and Results - We searched PubMed and relevant journals for words in the title of this article. Among the major problems in making headway toward better detection and treatment are the limited resources of many African countries. Relatively recent environmental changes seem to be adverse. Mass migration from rural to periurban and urban areas probably accounts, at least in part, for the high incidence of hypertension in urban black Africans. In the remaining semirural areas, inroads in lifestyle changes associated with "civilization" may explain the apparently rising prevalence of hypertension. Overall, significant segments of the African population are still afflicted by severe poverty, famine, and civil strife, making the overall prevalence of hypertension difficult to determine. Black South Africans have a stroke rate twice as high as that of whites. Two lifestyle changes that are feasible and should help to stem the epidemic of hypertension in Africa are a decreased salt intake and decreased obesity, especially in women. Conclusions - Overall, differences from whites in etiology and therapeutic responses in sub-Saharan African populations are graded and overlapping rather than absolute. Further studies are needed on black Africans, who may (or may not) be genetically and environmentally different from black Americans and from each other in different parts of this vast continent. © 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.
Authors & Co-Authors
Opie, LionelH H.
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Seedat, Yackoob Kassim
South Africa, Congella
University of Kwazulu-natal, Faculty of Health Sciences
Statistics
Citations: 530
Authors: 2
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.539569
ISSN:
00097322
Research Areas
Noncommunicable Diseases
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Cohort Study
Participants Gender
Female