The incidence of hypertension among a select population of adults in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

The incidence of hypertension was studied in two hundred male and female subjects engaged in low socioeconomic class occupations in a university village of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The mean age of the male subjects was 23 years and that of the female subjects was 25 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) for the male subjects was 22.7 kg/m2 and that of the females was 23.8 kg/m2. The mean systolic blood pressure of the male subjects was 136.8 mmHg and that of the females was 122 mmHg. The mean diastolic blood pressures for the male and female subjects were 81 and 83.4 mmHg, respectively. The incidence of hypertension among the male subjects was 16% and that of the female subjects was 12%.