CGPH FACULTY: Lee Riley
DATE OF PUBLICATION: June 2015
REGION: Latin America
REFERENCE: Unger A, Felzemburgh RD, Snyder RE, Ribeiro GS, Mohr S, Costa VB, Melendez AX, Reis RB, Santana FS, Riley LW, Reis MG, Ko AI; Pau da Lima Urban Health Team. Hypertension in a brazilian urban slum population. J Urban Health. 2015 Jun;92(3):446-59. doi: 10.1007/s11524-015-9956-1.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Low- and middle-income countries account for the majority of hypertension disease burden. However, little is known about the distribution of this illness within subpopulations of these countries, particularly among those who live in urban informal settlements. A cross-sectional hypertension survey was conducted in 2003 among 5649 adult residents of a slum settlement in the city of Salvador, Brazil. Hypertension was defined as either an elevated arterial systolic (≥140 mmHg) or diastolic (≥90 mmHg) blood pressure.The prevalence of hypertension in this slum community was lower than reported frequencies in the non-slum population of Brazil and Salvador, yet both disease awareness and treatment frequency were low. Further research on hypertension and other chronic non-communicable diseases in slum populations is urgently needed to guide prevention and treatment efforts in this growing population.
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