Heart Disease as Seen in a Southern Clinic

Comparison of Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Mortality in Black and White Adults

“…Based on estimates of relative risk (RR) generated from longitudinal studies that in-dicated no association or a significantly smaller association between traditional risk factors (eg, hypertension, high cholesterol level, and smoking) and CVD among black adults compared with white adults, early reports suggested that risk factors for CVD differed between ethnic groups. [3][4][5][6] However, the totality of more recent evidence reports a similar pattern and strength of association between risk factors and CVD in black patients and white patients. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Both early and more recent studies are subject to limitations based on restricted geographic diversity (studies based predominantly in the southern United States), small sample sizes, short follow-up, and uncontrolled confounding by socioeconomic differences between racial/ethnic groups.…”

Pathogenesis of Essential Hypertension

“…The latter authors also quote personal communications from Taylor, Odaley, Dry, and Wakeford. American negroes after the age of 20 have higher blood pressures than American whites (Alvarez and Stanley, 1930;Adams, 1932), and the incidence of high blood pressure is greater in negroes than in white residents of the United States (Stone and Vanzant, 1927;Donnison, 1929;Alvarez and Stanley, 1930;Allen, 1931 ;Holmes, 1931 ;Kirk, 1931 ;Adams, 1932;Laws, 1932-3;Flaxman, 1934;Weiss and Prusmack, 1938;Hedley, 1941). Hypertension of a few days' duration after exposure to explosive blast was more common in negroes than whites (Ruskin, Beard, and Schaffer, 1948).…”