Cardiovascular disease in the tropics. III. Blood pressure and hypertension.

Abstract

In most populations the mean blood pressure level in males and females rises progressively with increasing age. This gradual increase in blood pressure is not a benign process and there is an increasing morbidity and mortality as the pressure rises, even at levels which most clinicians would accept as normal. There is no clear dividing line in these populations between normal and abnormal, and most workers would agree that what we call es sential hypertension represents the upper end of a frequency distribution curve. Nevertheless, there are communities in whom blood pressure does not rise with age and in whom the problem of essential hypertension and its complications appears to be virtually non-existent. I must emphasize that in the vast majority of tropical communities blood pressure patterns are similar to those seen in the economically advanced countries of the world. I am speaking of the exceptional minorities.

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