Genetics may not be enough to explain the rates of high blood pressure in US African-American populations, according to new research published today in BMC Medicine. The international study gives a different interpretation to the previous US data and suggests that high rates of hypertension might have more to do with lifestyle and socio-economic background than with racial origin.
Previous studies in the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, have shown that populations of African descent are much more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, and related conditions such as obesity and stroke, than white populations of European descent. This led to the assumption that individuals of African origin have a genetic predisposition to hypertension. However, this assumption was based solely on data collected in the US and had never been confirmed by international studies on other black populations.
Richard Cooper and his team, from Loyola University Strich School of Medicine in Illinois, compared standardised surveys of blood pressure from black populations in Nigeria, Jamaica and the US, and white populations from the US, Canada and 5 European countries. The study showed that there is a wide variation in the prevalence of hypertension within both racial groups when viewed internationally. In populations of African origin it ranges from 14% to 44%, while in white populations it goes from 27% to 55%.