Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health logoLink to Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
. 1982 Dec;36(4):256–261. doi: 10.1136/jech.36.4.256

Prevalence of hypertension in the urban and rural Zulu.

Y K Seedat, M A Seedat, D B Hackland
PMCID: PMC1052229  PMID: 7166680

Abstract

In a house-to-house study of 994 urban Zulus the prevalence of hypertension according to WHO criteria was 25% (23% men, 27% women). In a rural Zulu study of 987 the prevalence age corrected to the urban distribution was 9.4% (8.7% men, 10% women). Thus there was a pronounced difference between the prevalence of hypertension in the urban and rural Zulu (p less than 0.0005). There was an earlier onset of hypertension in the urban compared with the rural Zulu. Contrasting biosocial factors in the urban and rural Zulu could explain the differences in prevalence. Our study suggests that hypertension is not a major health problem in rural Zulus. Large-scale case finding and intervention programmes should be confined to the urban black population of South Africa.

Full text

PDF
256

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. FRASER B. N. Manifestations and aetiology of hypertension in the Coloured and Bantu. Br Med J. 1959 Mar 21;1(5124):761–764. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5124.761. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. GAMPEL B., SLOME C., SCOTCH N., ABRAMSON J. H. Urbanization and hypertension among Zulu adults. J Chronic Dis. 1962 Jan;15:67–70. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(62)90102-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gupta S. P., Siwach S. B., Gupta M. S. Hypertension and blood pressure trends in the general population of Haryana (based on total community surveys). J Assoc Physicians India. 1979 Feb;27(2):119–126. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. KAMINER B., LUTZ W. P. Blood pressure in Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Circulation. 1960 Aug;22:289–295. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.22.2.289. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Mokhobo K. P. Arterial hypertension in rural societies. East Afr Med J. 1976 Aug;53(8):440–444. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Oviasu V. O. Arterial blood pressures and hypertension in a rural Nigerian community. Afr J Med Med Sci. 1978 Sep;7(3):137–143. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Pobee J. O., Larbi E. B., Belcher D. W., Wurapa F. K., Dodu S. R. Blood pressure distribution in a rural Ghanaian population. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1977;71(1):66–72. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(77)90211-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. SCHRIRE V. The racial incidence of heart disease at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. II. Hypertension and valvular disease of the heart. Am Heart J. 1958 Nov;56(5):742–760. doi: 10.1016/0002-8703(58)90217-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Seedat Y. K., Reddy J. The clinical pattern of hypertension in the South African Black population: a study of 1000 patients. Afr J Med Med Sci. 1976 Mar;5(1):1–7. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Seedat Y. K., Seedat M. A., Hackland D. B. Biosocial factors and hypertension in urban and rural Zulus. S Afr Med J. 1982 Jun 26;61(26):999–1002. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sever P. S., Gordon D., Peart W. S., Beighton P. Blood-pressure and its correlates in urban and tribal Africa. Lancet. 1980 Jul 12;2(8185):60–64. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)92940-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES