• Richard S Cooper, Katharina Wolf-Maier, Amy Luke, Adebowale Adeyemo, José R Banegas, Terrence Forrester, Simona Giampaoli, Michel Joffres, Mika Kastarinen, Paola Primatesta, Birgitta Stegmayr, and Michael Thamm.
• Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL, USA. rcooper@lumc.edu
• Bmc Med. 2005 Jan 5; 3: 22.

BackgroundThe consistent finding of higher prevalence of hypertension in US blacks compared to whites has led to speculation that African-origin populations are particularly susceptible to this condition. Large surveys now provide new information on this issue.MethodsUsing a standardized analysis strategy we examined prevalence estimates for 8 white and 3 black populations (N = 85,000 participants).ResultsThe range in hypertension prevalence was from 27 to 55% for whites and 14 to 44% for blacks.ConclusionsThese data demonstrate that not only is there a wide variation in hypertension prevalence among both racial groups, the rates among blacks are not unusually high when viewed internationally. These data suggest that the impact of environmental factors among both populations may have been under-appreciated.

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