Factors associated with hypertension in Barbadians: findings from the Barbados Eye Study cohort

ABSTRACT

Although hypertension has emerged as the most common chronic non-commuciable disease in the Caribbean, affecting approximately 45 percent of those aged 40 years and older, few studies have attempted to elucidate the contribution of risk factors to the burden of hypertensive disease. The Barbados Eye Study commenced in 1988, and included 4709 participants or 84 percent of a simple random sample of the island's population, aged 40 to 84 years. Measurements included applanation tonometry, visual acuity and perimetry, blood pressure with a random zero sphygmomanometer, anthropometry including weight, height, and body circumferences performed by trained observers, as well as the assay of glycated haemoglobin. The median age of the cohort was 58 years, 57 percent being female, with 93 percent reporting their race as Black. In patients not receiving treatment for hypertension, mean systolic and diastolic pressures were significantly higher in Blacks compared to Whites or others, mean systolic pressure 132.1 ñ 21.1 mm Hg vs 129.6 ñ 19.8 mm Hg, respectively (p=0.021); mean diastolic pressure 79.4 ñ 11.3 mm Hg vs 76.1 ñ 10.8 mm Hg, respectively (p=0.001).(AU)