Race and hypertensive target-organ damage in patients from an university-affiliated outpatient care referral clinic in the city of Salvador.
OBJECTIVE
To assess whether a patient's race is associated with the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy, stroke, and renal failure in hypertensive patients from an outpatient care referral clinic in the city of Salvador in the state of Bahia.


METHODS
We assessed the data of 622 patients collected during their first visit to the hypertension outpatient care clinic between 1982 and 1986, identifying those with a previous history or sequela of stroke, left ventricular hypertrophy, or renal failure (serum creatinine > 1.4 mg/dL). Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of the association between race (mulattos or black vs white individuals) and hypertensive target-organ damage adjusted for sex and age.


RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 53.8+/-14.3 years, and 74.1% were women. In regard to race, 15.1% were white, 65.9% mulatto, and 19.0% black. Stroke was significantly more frequent in blacks or mulattos than in white individuals [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.44; 95% confidence interval (CI) = (1.23-9.67). In regard to the associations involving race and the events of left ventricular hypertrophy and renal failure, the aORs were not statistically significant but were consistent with a greater prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy and renal failure in blacks and mulattos.


CONCLUSIONS
Hypertensive mulattos and blacks have a greater risk of target-organ damage than white individuals do, with a greater racial difference for nonfatal stroke. Whether racial differences in mortality related to hypertensive complications influence the associations observed between race and target-organ damage should be assessed.
Noblat
Antonio Carlos Beisl
AC
Hospital Universitário Professor Edgard Santos, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil. noblat@ufba.br
Lopes
Marcelo Barreto
MB
Lopes
Antonio Alberto
AA
D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D044383:Black People; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000208:ethnology*; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000208:ethnology*