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Prevalence and Characteristics of Hypertension and Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Native People in Argentine Patagonia

Roberto A Ingaramo and David Williams

Objectives: Recent studies reveal that hypertension and cardiovascular risk factors have increased in natives in the entire American continent. Their prevalence in the native inhabitants of Argentine Patagonia (Tehuelches and Mapuches) is unknown. The aim of the present work was to assess that prevalence in a group of mixed Tehuelche and Mapuche people in the plateaus of the northern-central region of the province of Chubut, Argentine Patagonia.
Methods: We measured blood pressure in 181 native individuals in six villages. Subsequently they underwent fasting laboratory tests (glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides), assessment of body mass index, abdominal circumference and investigation for target organ damage.
Results: The outcomes showed a prevalence of 25.4% of hypertension among them. In 60.9% of those who were hypertensive, we observed a body mass index over 30 Kg/m², while different prevalence of dyslipidemia (36.9%), diabetes (3.3%), glucose intolerance (17.4%), increased left ventricular mass index (37%), carotid plaques (37%), an intima-media thickness over 9 mm (50%) and an abnormal fundus (71.7%) were also found. Hypertension was more common in males, and in unemployed, widowed and divorced people, but we did not observe a significant association between hypertension and diet, alcoholism or smoking or the lack of medical insurance.
Conclusion: We concluded that the prevalence of hypertension in Mapuche and Tehuelche inhabitants of Chubut is not significantly different from that of general populations of our country, nor those of other ethnic groups of the American continent, but the impact on target organ is seemingly greater for them.