Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental, societal, and genetic contributions to the epidemic of hypertension in African Americans

  • Published:
Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The high prevalence of hypertension in African Americans persists. Although many theories have been postulated in efforts to determine the major underlying cause, it is more likely that this phenomenon has no single cause but, rather, many contributing factors. This article reviews many of the factors associated with hypertension in African Americans.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References and Recommended Reading

  1. Wong ND, Lopez VA, L’Italien GL, et al.: Inadequate control of hypertension in US adults with cardiovascular disease comorbidities in 2003–2004. Arch Intern Med 2007, 167:2431–2436.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ong KL, Cheung BM, Man YB, et al.: Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension among United States adults 1999–2004. Hypertension 2007, 49:69–75.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Cooper RS, Rotimi CN, Kaufman JS, et al.: Hypertension treatment and control in sub-Saharan Africa: the epidemiological basis for policy. BMJ 1998, 316:614–617.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Opie L, Seedat YK: Hypertension in sub-Saharan African populations. Circulation 2005, 112:3562–3568.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. McNiece KL, Poffenbarger TS, Turner JL, et al.: Prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension among adolescents. J Pediatr 2007, 150:640–644.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Portman R, Nesbitt SD: Would preemptive therapy in childhood prevent cardiovascular disease? J Clin Hypertens 2007, 9:739–741.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rosamond W, Flegal K, Friday G, et al.: Heart disease and stroke statistics—2007 update: a report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Circulation 2007, 115:e69–e171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Racial differences in trends of end-stage renal disease, by primary diagnosis—United States, 1994–2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2007, 56:253–256.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Wilson TW, Grim CE: Biohistory of slavery and blood pressure differences in blacks today. Hypertension 1991, 17(Suppl I):I122–I128.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Sacks FM, Svetkey LP, Vollmer WM, et al.: Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. N Engl J Med 2001, 344:3–10.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Steffen LM, Kroenke CH, Yu X, et al.: Associations of plant food, dairy product, and meat intakes with 15-year incidence of elevated blood pressure in young black and white adults: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Am J Clin Nutr 2005, 82:1169–1177.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Falkner B, Sherif K, Kushner H: Dietary nutrients and blood pressure in urban minority adolescents at risk for hypertension. Arch Adolesc Med 2000, 154:918–922.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Reusser ME, McCarron DA: Reducing hypertensive cardiovascular risk of African Americans with diet: focus on the facts. J Nutr 2006, 136:1099–1102.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Jen KL, Brogan K, Washington OG, et al.: Poor nutrient intake and high obese rate in an urban African American population with hypertension. J Am Coll Nutr 2007, 26:57–65.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Davis AM, Vinci LM, Okwuosa TM, et al.: Cardiovascular health disparities: a systematic review of health care interventions. Med Care Res Rev 2007, 64:29S–100S.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. El-Gharbarwy AH, Kotchen JM, Grim CE, et al.: Genderspecific correlates of leptin with hypertension-related phenotypes in African Americans. Am J Hypertens 2002, 15:989–993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Shikany JM, Lewis CE, Freedman BI, et al.: Plasma adiponectin concentrations and correlates in African Americans in the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) study. Metabolism 2007, 56:1011–1016.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Okosun IS, Cooper RS, Rotimi CN, et al.: Association of waist circumference with risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes in Nigerians, Jamaicans and African Americans. Diabetes Care 1998, 21:1836–1842.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Cooper RS, Kaufman JS: Race and hypertension: science and nescience. Hypertension 1998, 32:813–816.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Nesbitt SD: Hypertension in African American patients: special issues and considerations. Curr Cardiol Rep 2004, 6:416–420.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Satia JA, Galanko JA, Siega-Riz AM: Eating at fast-food restaurants is associated with dietary intake, demographic, psychological and behavioral factors among African Americans in North Carolina. Public Health Nutr 2004, 7:1089–1096.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Morland K, Wing S, Diez Roux A: The contextual effect of the local food environment on residents’ diets: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Am J Public Health 2002, 92:1761–1767.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Baker EA, Schootman M, Barnridge E, Kelly C: The role of race and poverty in access to foods that enable individuals to adhere to dietary guidelines. Prev Chronic Dis 2006, 3:A76.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Outley CW, Taddese A: A content analysis of health and physical activity messages marketed to African American children during after school television programming. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2006, 160:432–435.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Light KC, Brownley KA, Turner JR, et al.: Job status and high-effort coping influence work blood pressure in women and blacks. Hypertension 1995, 25(4 Pt 1):554–559.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. McKetney EC, Ragland DR: John Henryism, education, and blood pressure in young adults. The CARDIA study. Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. Am J Epidemiol 1996, 143:787–789.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Adams JH, Aubert RE, Clark VR: The relationship among John Henryism, hostility, and perceived stress, social support, and blood pressure in African American college students. Ethn Dis 1999, 9:359–368.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Boutin-Foster C, Ogedegbe G, Ravenell JE, et al.: Ascribing meaning to hypertension: a qualitative study among African Americans with uncontrolled hypertension. Ethn Dis 2007, 17:29–34.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Viswanathan H, Lambert BL: An inquiry into medication meanings, illness, medication use, and the transformative potential of chronic illness among African Americans with hypertension. Res Social Adm Pharm 2005, 1:21–39.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Fisher TL, Burner DL, Huang ES, et al.: Cultural leverage: interventions using culture to narrow racial disparities in health care. Med Care Res Rev 2007, 64(5 Suppl):243S–282S.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Hlaing WM: Race/ethnic disparity in hypertension-related hospitalization in Florida. Ethn Dis 2007, 17:453–460.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Schulman KA, Berlin JA, Harless W, et al.: The effect of race and sex on physicians’ recommendations for cardiac catheterization. N Engl J Med 1999, 340:618–625.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Ford E, Newman J, Deosaransigh K: Racial and ethnic differences in use of cardiovascular procedures: findings from the California Cooperative Cardiovascular Project. Am J Public Health 2000, 90:1128–1134.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Caillier JG, Brown SC, Parsons S, et al.: Physician bias: does it occur at teaching hospitals that serve a majority of African American patients? Ethn Dis 2007, 17:461–466.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Klag MJ, Whelton PK, Coresh J, et al.: The association of skin color with blood pressure in US blacks with low socioeconomic status. JAMA 1991, 6:599–602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Kardia SL, Rozek LS, Krushkal J, et al.: Genome-wide link-age analysis for hypertension genes in two ethnically and geographically diverse populations. Am J Hypertens 2003, 16:154–157.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Rice T, Cooper RS, Wu X, et al.: Meta-analysis of genome-wide scans for blood pressure in African American and Nigerian samples. Am J Hypertens 2006, 19:270–274.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Sherva R, Miller MB, Lynch AI, et al.: A whole genome scan for pulse pressure/stroke volume ratio in African Americans: the HyperGEN Study. Am J Hypertens 2007, 20:398–402.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Markovic D, Tang X, Guruju M, et al.: Association of angiotensinogen gene polymorphisms with essential hypertension in African Americans and Caucasians. Hum Hered 2005, 60:89–96.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Jones JM, Park JJ, Johnson J, et al.: Renin-angiotensin system genes and exercise training-induced changes in sodium excretion in African American hypertensives. Ethn Dis 2006, 16:666–674.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Wang X, Zhu H, Dong Y, et al.: Effects of angiotensin II type 1 receptor genes on blood pressure and left ventricular mass trajectories in multiethnic youth. Twin Res Hum Genet 2006, 9:393–402.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Li JL, Canham RM, Vongpatanasin W, et al.: Do allelic variants in alpha2A and alpha2C adrenergic receptors predispose to hypertension in blacks? Hypertension 2006, 47:1140–1146.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Bochud M, Eap CB, Elston RC, et al.: Association of CYP3A5 genotypes with blood pressure and renal function in African American families. J Hypertens 2006, 24:923–929.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Langaee TY, Gong Y, Yarandi HN, et al.: Association of CYP3A5 polymorphisms with hypertension and antihypertensive response to verapamil. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2007, 81:386–391.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Wilk JB, Myers RH, Pankow JS, et al.: Adrenergic receptor polymorphisms associated with resting heart rate: the HyperGEN Study. Ann Hum Genet 2006, 70:566–573.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Gong Y, Beitelshees AL, Wessel J, et al.: Single nucleotide polymorphism discovery and haplotype analysis of Ca2+-dependent K+ channel beta-1 subunit. Pharmacogenet Genomics 2007, 17:267–275.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Hollier JM, Martin DF, Bell DM, et al.: Epithelial sodium channel allele T594M is not associated with blood pressure or blood pressure response to amiloride. Hypertension 2006, 47:428–433.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Materson BJ: Variability in response to antihypertensive drugs. Am J Med 2007, 120(4 Suppl 1):S10–S20.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Meyers KJ, Mosley TH, Fox E, et al.: Genetic variations associated with echocardiographic left ventricular traits in hypertensive blacks. Hypertension 2007, 49:992–999.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, CS8.102, Dallas, TX, 75390, USA

    Shawna D. Nesbitt

Authors
  1. Shawna D. Nesbitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shawna D. Nesbitt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nesbitt, S.D. Environmental, societal, and genetic contributions to the epidemic of hypertension in African Americans. Curr Cardio Risk Rep 2, 181–186 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-008-0034-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-008-0034-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation