BLOOD-PRESSURE VARIATION AMONG ETHIOPIANS ON THE SIMIEN PLATEAU

This report presents information on determinants of blood pressure var iation in a rural sample of 263 Ethiopian highlanders 14-86 years of a ge, resident at 3530m on the Simien Plateau. Mean systolic and diastol ic blood pressures for males and females were 109/75 and 106/73, respe ctively, and there were no age differences. These findings confirmed t hat men and women can have low normal blood pressure throughout adulth ood. Blood pressures increased with increasing body mass index (BMI) a mong adult males, although the mean BMI of 19.1kg/m(2) was low compare d with US values. This illustrates that BMI variation may be associate d with blood pressure variation in men even at low mean values of both . Blood pressure did not vary with adult haemoglobin concentration.