Geographic Pattern of Hypertension in Colorado

Abstract

Two methods of classification of age-adjusted mortality statistics had indicated that in a band of counties on the high plains in eastern Colorado, the 1959–1961 death rate had persisted at the 1949–1951 level in contrast to the steep decline manifest in all other rural and urban regions of the state. For confirmation, prevalence of hypertension was studied among all 33,484 Colorado Selective Service System registrants born in 1939–1941, of whom 11,003 had been examined during 1957–1964. Hypertension was identified in 275 individuals, 8.2 per 1,000, and their geographic distribution agreed with the geographic mortality pattern. Thus, relative to the rest of the state, a high-risk hypertension region may have emerged in Colorado for reasons that are not yet clear. Since there is a geographic pattern, there is reason to suspect a changing environment.