Comparative studies in hypertension under different continental conditions

Preventive studies were undertaken according to the same protocol (questionnaire, blood pressure and cholesterol assay standardized) integrated in the Public Health Services of the GDR and Cuba. In a German community (Cottbus-Land) 5,377 people (2,340 males/3,037 females) and in the Havana region 1,179 people (437 males/742 females), all aged 30-50 years, were followed up. The Germans revealed higher proportions of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, the Cubans those of (heavy) smoking. Conditioning factors, such as overweight, physical inactivity and psychic stress, were found to be quite differently distributed, explaining however only in part prevalence differences between the continental regions even when both sex and localization of living were considered separately.