The Relationship Between Race and the Prevalence of Hypertension

A new theoretical approach to aid in the inter-disciplinary research on the question of why some racial and ethnic groups are more susceptible to hypertension than others. In this study, the minority status group hypothesis is used to compare the African Americans /European Americans hypertension differentials.

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Hypertension is still a major health problem among African Americans. For example, it is twice as high among African Americans as among European Americans. The crucial question, therefore, is why is it that some racial and ethnic groups are more susceptible to this disease than others. The aim of this research is to determine what factors account for such racial differentials in hypertension. Various theoretical approaches have been used in studying racial differentials in the etiology of hypertension. These have included such factors as genetic, dietary, socio-demographic, and social class factors. Even though these theoretical explanations have contributed immensely to the understanding of racial differentials in prevalence of hypertension, the findings are inconclusive. There is still no adequate explanation for either the causes of hypertension or its distributions. It's within this context that the minority status group hypothesis has been proposed as an alternative. This theoretical framework maintains that the minority group hypothesis has been proposed as an alternative.
This theoretical framework maintains that the minority group status has an independent effect on the incidence and prevalence of hypertension, even when confounding factors such as diet, genetic, social class, age, sex, anthrometric and family support are controlled for.