Left ventricular hypertrophy among dark- and light-skinned Puerto Rican men: the Puerto Rico Heart Health Program.

Racial groups were assessed by determinations of skin color in 3366 urban men in the Puerto Rico Heart Health Program, an epidemiologic study of coronary heart disease in Puerto Rico. These men participated in a comprehensive cardiovascular examination that included assessment of blood pressure, relative weight, physical activity, cigarette smoking, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) as determined by ECG, and measurements of skinfold thickness. They were followed for mortality over the next 6 years. Dark-skinned Puerto Rican men had a higher prevalence of both definite and possible LVH-ECG after stratifying by levels of hypertension, relative weight, physical activity, number of cigarettes smoked, and subscapular skinfold thickness. After multivariate adjustment of these factors, the dark-skinned men had approximately twice the prevalence of both definite and possible LVH-ECG as the lighter skinned men. Definite LVH-ECG carries a high mortality risk over the next 6 years as compared to men without definite LVH (fivefold increased risk in lighter skinned and sevenfold increased risk in darker skinned Puerto Rican men).