Hypertensie in Nederlandse en Engelse etnische minderheidsgroepen

Objective

To compare blood pressure and the prevalence of hypertension in white Dutch and Dutch of Suriname-hindustani and Suriname-creole ethnic derivation with corresponding ethnic minority groups in England and to assess the quality of hypertension treatment in these groups.

Design

Retrospective; comparison of cross-sectional studies.

Method

Secondary analyses were performed on data from 3 population-based studies with 13,999 participants in total of European, African of South-Asian origin from England and the Netherlands.

Results

English South-Asian men and women had lower blood pressure and lower prevalence of hypertension than people of South-Asian origin in the Netherlands (Suriname-hindustani), except for systolic blood pressure in men of Indian extraction in England. There was no difference in systolic blood pressure between groups of African origin in the Netherlands and England. Diastolic blood pressure levels, however, were lower in English men and women of African origin than in people of African origin in the Netherlands (Suriname-creole). White Dutch had higher systolic blood pressure levels, but lower diastolic blood pressure levels than white English men and women. There was no difference in the prevalence of hypertension between the white groups. In persons being treated for hypertension, a substantially lower percentage of the Suriname-hindustani and Suriname-creole persons in the Netherlands had well controlled blood pressure (lower than 140/90 mmHg) than their English equivalents, with the exception of English of Indian extraction.

Conclusion

There were marked differences in blood pressure and prevalence of hypertension between comparable ethnic groups in England and the Netherlands. The relatively poor blood pressure control in Dutch ethnic minority groups partly explained the relatively high blood pressure levels in these groups.

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: This project was financed by a VENI fellowship (no. 916.76.130), awarded by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).