Dialysis bus cuts ice with rural patients
Medical World News 20(3): 50-51
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-763X PMID: 10240207 Document Number: 153554
18.198 black women and 2398 white women were studied as to the causes of hypertension at the Emory University family planning clinic. Among 4666 new black patients seeking a contraceptive, hypertension was 2.6%, and it was 3.7% among 5632 patients using nonhormonal contraceptives. In comparison, with or without the pill, fewer than 1% of white patients were hypertensive. Of the 611 blacks and 40 whites who went on the pill for 6 to 25 months and who had normal blood pressure when they entered the study, only 1% of black pill users developed hypertension, compared to 2.4% of black nonusers and 5% of white users. It was also found that stopping the pill did not cure hypertension. It has been known for years that hypertension is more of a problem among blacks. It still has to be investigated whether smoking habits, salt intake, and especially age, have anything to do with the problem.