Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The African slave trade and the Caribbean
- 2 Obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes in Afro-Caribbean populations: an evolutionary overview
- 3 Infectious disease epidemiology and Afro-Caribbean populations
- 4 Population genetics of Afro-Caribbean groups
- 5 Demography of Afro-Caribbean groups
- 6 The Afro-Caribbean population in Limón, Costa Rica
- References
- Index
2 - Obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes in Afro-Caribbean populations: an evolutionary overview
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The African slave trade and the Caribbean
- 2 Obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes in Afro-Caribbean populations: an evolutionary overview
- 3 Infectious disease epidemiology and Afro-Caribbean populations
- 4 Population genetics of Afro-Caribbean groups
- 5 Demography of Afro-Caribbean groups
- 6 The Afro-Caribbean population in Limón, Costa Rica
- References
- Index
Summary
The focus of this chapter is on hypertension, obesity, and type-II diabetes and not on broader cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke. Given that these three conditions are the major contributors to cardiovascular disease, and given that they have been researched separately by numerous authors, they seem a better target for this chapter than the more broadly defined entity of cardiovascular disease.
Although it might seem that three clinical entities (hypertension, obesity, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes) do not merit an entire chapter, these three clinical entities do. Indeed, the literature on them is so large that the chapter will focus more on theoretical discussions rather than on research communications on frequencies of these conditions. By necessity, the material reviewed here will include Afro-USA, Afro-Brazilian, and Afro-UK populations, since the literature on them is large. Afro-USA populations will be referred to in this manner, because the more usual term in the United States, “African-Americans,” is misleading, as it could well refer to African-derived groups in the entire American continent, with the Caribbean, broadly defined, included.
A brief description of the conditions
In this section, we will acquaint the reader with clinical definitions of obesity, hypertension, and type-II diabetes. The review will not consider clinical recommendations on the treatment of these conditions.
Hypertension
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a condition of complex etiology which results in high pressure being applied to the inside wall of arteries with many deleterious consequences.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Human Biology of Afro-Caribbean Populations , pp. 34 - 69Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006