ETHNICITY AND CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE - THE EVANS-COUNTY HEART-STUDY

A long-term study of diversity between two ethnic groups was developed in Evans County, Georgia. The findings are predicated on the genotypi c-phenotypic interactions, with the multitude of environmental factors . The genetic environmental interaction ultimately determines the indi vidual's state of health or disease. For example, coronary heart disea se prevalence and incidence rates were extremely low for blacks in Afr ica and four times lower than whites in rural South Georgia in the 196 0s, Excessive hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and greater cerebrov ascular disease mortality in black men, is now well known. Blood press ure levels studied in rural Africa were normal and did not rise with a ge, whereas blacks, conversely, demonstrated twice as much hypertensio n in South Georgia as whites and demonstrated an inverse relation betw een education and blood pressure (ie, the lower the education the high er the blood pressure). Cultural adaptation has accelerated hypertensi ve disease and strokes in blacks, while there remains an excess of ath erosclerotic coronary heart disease in white men. Secular trends sugge st that coronary heart disease is decreasing among white men but may b e increasing in black men. Studies of ethnicity and biracial populatio ns provide important cardiovascular disease associations with clinical risk factor studies.