New York, NY - In the first study to specifically examine hypertension along racial lines within the Hispanic community, researchers have found that black Hispanics have much higher rates of hypertension than white Hispanics [1].

Epidemiologist Dr Luisa N Borrell (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY) reports her findings in the Winter 2006 issue of Ethnicity & Disease and told heartwire: "Doctors have this fantasy about Hispanics being healthier than whites or blacks, but the term Hispanic covers a very diverse group of people.

"Doctors need to look past the fact that people are Hispanic and ask them, 'Where are you from, what's your parentage?' " She says Puerto Ricans and Dominicans in particular and Cubans to a lesser extent appear to have rates of hypertension similar to those seen in African Americans.

Borrell analyzed data from the 2000-2002 US National Health Interview Survey that included 88 453 adults, of whom 12 083 were Hispanic. Hypertension was self-reported. Ethnicity was established from the question: "Do you consider yourself Hispanic/Latino?" and participants were then asked what race they considered themselves. For the purposes of this analysis, all the individuals in the study were classified as one of the following: Hispanic black, Hispanic white, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black.

Hispanic blacks had higher odds of self-reported hypertension than non-Hispanic whites and Hispanic whites, although these associations did not reach significance, Borrell points out. The odds ratios for Hispanic blacks approached those of non-Hispanic blacks.

"This study shows that although Hispanics have a lower prevalence of hypertension, when race was accounted for, Hispanic blacks have a higher prevalence of hypertension than their white counterparts," says Borrell.

She says previous research on heart disease in Puerto Rico showed that dark-skinned Puerto Rican men had a higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy and slightly higher systolic blood pressure than their light-skinned counterparts.

Ignoring race could mask variation in hypertension among Hispanics.

"This study shows that Hispanic blacks and whites have more similarity to their non-Hispanic counterparts as time goes by than they do to each other," she points out.

She does note a possible limitation—the fact that the sample size for Hispanic blacks was small (n=230)—but nevertheless concludes: "Ignoring race could mask variation in hypertension among Hispanics. If we are serious about eliminating health disparities among Americans, race among Hispanics cannot be ignored and should be considered in the current discourse on racial/ethnic disparities in health."