Target organ damage in hypertensive patients of different ethnic groups

Background: Hypertension is associated with involvement of target organs which varies among the different ethnic groups. The multiplicity of the population in Israel offers an opportunity for evaluating target organ damage in hypertensive patients of different ethnic origins. Methods and results: Data were collected from the computerized medical files of hypertensive patients in primary care clinics. The analysis was done on 576 hypertensive patients: 138 Bedouins (Arab residents), 141 Sephardic Jews (immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East), 152 Asian-Indian Jews (immigrants from India) and 145 Ashkenazi Jews (immigrants from Europe and North and South America). In multivariable logistic regressions adjusted for known risk factors and ethnicity, the prevalence of cerebrovascular disease was the highest among the Asian-Indian Jews (OR = 3.09, p value = 0.009). Renal damage was highest among the Bedouins (OR = 4.54, p value < 0.0001) and Asian-Indian Jews (OR = 2.88, p value = 0.005). The differences in the prevalence of renal damage among the various ethnic groups were even more pronounced among patients without diabetes (OR = 8.31, p value < 0.0001 in Bedouins and OR = 7.46, p value = 0.001 in Asian-Indian Jews). The prevalence of ischemic heart disease did not differ significantly among the four ethnic groups. Conclusions: The prevalence of cerebrovascular and renal diseases are both significantly associated with ethnic origin of Asian-Indian Jews and Bedouins. However, the multivariate analysis shows that the prevalence of ischemic heart disease is not associated with ethnicity.