American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 17, 381-390, Copyright © 1965 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Epidemiologic Study of Hypertension

Comparative Results of Hypertensive Surveys in Two Areas in Northern Japan

¹ From the Department of Medicine, Iwate Medical College, Morioka, Japan

To ascertain the causes of the regional differences in the mortality due to cerebral vascular lesions, epidemiologic studies of hypertension were carried out on randomly selected inhibitants in two villages in northern Honshu, Japan (designated A and B), which had different death rates from this disease (272.6 per 100,000 in A and 104.0 per 100,000 in B during the period 1958 to 1962).

The high motality in village A was associated with elevated mean blood pressure levels and an increased incidence of hypertension. Among male subjects fifty to fifty-nine years of age, 36.6 per cent of the villagers in A had blood pressure levels of 160 mm. Hg (systolic) and/or 95 mm. Hg (diastolic) and higher, as opposed to only 22.7 per cent in village B.

There was no significant difference in the climatic conditions or the serum lipid levels in the two villages. There was a difference in the consumption of certain nutrients and the improper dietic habit in one village (A) which led to a large intake of salt associated with a low intake of vitamin A, riboflavin, ascorbic acid and pantothenic acid is proposed to be the main cause of the greater incidence of hypertension and mortality from apoplexy in that village.

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