Wilks R, McFarlane-Anderson N, Bennett F, Fraser H, McGee D, Cooper R, Forrester T
Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies.
Ciba Found Symp. 1996;201:37-48; discussion 48-53, 188-93. doi: 10.1002/9780470514962.ch3.
People of African descent in the Caribbean and the USA originated from the Bight of Benin in West Africa. Although these populations share a common genetic heritage, they now live under different socioeconomical conditions. Assuming genetic similarity, a cross-cultural examination of these peoples in West Africa, the Caribbean and the USA may attenuate the effect of genetic factors and allow the assessment of environmental contributions to a biological outcome. We carried out an epidemiological survey to determine the prevalence of hypertension and the contribution of risk factors to the variation in blood pressure. We measured the height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, and blood pressure of adults in Nigeria, Cameroon, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Barbados and the USA. In urban populations there was a trend towards increasing weight, height, body mass index, and proportions of those overweight and obese going from West Africa to the USA, with the Caribbean being intermediate. The prevalence of hypertension lay on a similar gradient. Given a common genetic susceptibility, urbanization and western acculturation are therefore associated with increasing hypertension and obesity.
加勒比地区和美国的非洲裔人群起源于西非的贝宁湾。尽管这些人群有着共同的遗传基因，但他们如今生活在不同的社会经济条件下。假设基因相似，对西非、加勒比地区和美国的这些人群进行跨文化研究，可能会减弱遗传因素的影响，并有助于评估环境因素对生物学结果的作用。我们开展了一项流行病学调查，以确定高血压的患病率以及风险因素对血压变化的影响。我们测量了尼日利亚、喀麦隆、牙买加、圣卢西亚、巴巴多斯和美国成年人的身高、体重、腰围和臀围以及血压。在城市人群中，从西非到美国，体重、身高、体重指数以及超重和肥胖人群的比例呈上升趋势，加勒比地区处于中间水平。高血压患病率也呈现类似的梯度变化。鉴于共同的遗传易感性，城市化和西方文化适应因此与高血压和肥胖症的增加有关。
