ABSTRACT
Blood pressure and other risk factors of cardiovascular diseases were studied in two rural communities of 631 adults (greater than or equal to 18 years old) with different socio-economic statuses, populations A and B. Population A (n = 381) lived in a tourist village on an island, and population B (n = 250) in a remote mountain village. The socio-economic status of population A had improved considerably over the last decade but the physical environment, habits, culture and way of life had been disrupted. Blood pressure, prevalence of hypertension and other risk factors were higher than in population B where socio-economic status was lower but where there had been no disruption of the environment, traditional habits, culture or way of life. These findings might be due to the lack of preventive medicine services in the community.
Subject(s)
Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Blood Pressure , Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control , Female , Greece/epidemiology , Humans , Hyperlipidemias/epidemiology , Hypertension/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Risk Factors , Rural Population , Socioeconomic FactorsABSTRACT
The habit of adding table salt was studied in a random sample of 2209 children 6-18 years old. Of these 10% routinely added table salt to prepared food before tasting it (group A), 29% after tasting it (group B) and 61% ate their food as it was prepared, without additional use of table salt (group C). Group A had higher blood pressure (BP), prevalence of systolic BP greater than or equal to 130 mmHG and body mass index (BMI) than groups B and C (P less than 0.0001). These differences were also observed in group B versus C (P less than 0.0001).
