JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Blood pressure and metabolic effects of calcium supplementation in normotensive white and black men.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to examine the effect of calcium supplementation on blood pressure in normotensive black (n = 21) and white (n = 54) men, aged 19 to 52 years. After a four-week baseline period of weekly blood pressure measurement, subjects were randomly assigned within racial groups to either a treatment (calcium, 1500 mg/d) or placebo group for a 12-week period. During the experimental period, multiple blood pressure measurements were taken every two weeks in both the seated and supine positions, using a random baseline sphygmomanometer. ⋯ Results were similar for supine blood pressure. Calcium supplementation, in comparison with placebo, resulted in lower mean arterial pressure in normotensive white and black men during a 12-week period. The overall blood pressure-lowering effect was not correlated with the response of serum levels of total and ionized calcium, total inorganic phosphorus, or parathyroid hormone, or overnight urinary electrolyte values.
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Historical Article
Public hospitals: doing what everyone wants done but few others wish to do.
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From 1960 to 1980, serum cholesterol levels were determined for three different national surveys of the US noninstitutionalized population aged 20 to 74 years conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, Md. Serum cholesterol determinations for each of the three surveys were standardized to the Abell-Kendall laboratory method. Age-adjusted mean serum cholesterol levels decreased by 6 to 8 mg/dL (0.16 to 0.21 mmol/L), or 3% to 4%, between the 1960 to 1962 and the 1976 to 1980 surveys. ⋯ Both declines were statistically significant. Mean serum cholesterol level decreased significantly in whites but not in blacks, and in all education subgroups for whites except men with less than nine years of education. In addition, the percentage of men and women with high-risk and moderate-risk cholesterol levels decreased during this period.