A Community Where Salt Feeds Some And Kills Many: A Discovery Of New Hypertensive Cohorts

Abstract

Systemic hypertension is endemic, epidemic and pandemic in the modern world. The world prevalence of hypertension among those >25 years is 4 - 40% while the prevalence in Ebonyi State, Nigeria is 23.2%. The predisposing factors globally outlined and studied include age, gender, obesity, smoking and race. The role of salt as a predisposing factor is a subject under strong debate by researchers. Here we report an agrarian community with salty yam and other crops, who drink brine and boil same to make salt for sale to far away communities. This community has prevalence of hypertension among 50 — 59-year olds as 61.36% and 60 — 69-year olds as 66.05%. In this community, most hypertensive adults die before the age of >70 years making prevalence of hypertension to drop to 57.39% at 70 - 79 years and continues to drop per decade. This is against the general knowledge that prevalence of hypertension increases with age. This study serves to stimulate further research on the role of sodium in this high prevalence of hypertension and the need for intervention to improve the quality of life and longevity among this cohort. It is an original report that is valuable to epidemiologists, other medical researchers and humanitarian agencies.