Relation between hypertension and occupational factors in rural and urban Africans.

Cross-sectional surveys of arterial blood pressure among rural and urban communities in Bendel State, Nigeria, showed that mean systolic and diastolic pressures were generally higher in urban than in rural subjects, but the differences were statistically significant only in certain age groups. The mean arterial pressures in groups of rural labourers, rural clerks, and urban clerks were compared but the differences were not statistically significant and it is not clear whether the small differences in blood pressure between rural labourers and urban clerks were associated with occupation or area of residence. However, the consistently intermediate values for rural clerks over the whole range of age groups furnish strong indirect evidence that both factors are relevant.