Social Factors in Newly Discovered Elevated Blood Pressure

Certain social characteristics of persons with elevated blood pressure who did not know that they have this condition were investigated. Among 34,280 persons presenting at a multiphasic health testing clinic during one year, elevated blood pressure was newly discovered in 9 per cent. This represents 58 per cent of all instances of elevated blood pressure encountered: significantly higher frequencies of newly found cases were among men, among younger persons for both blacks and whites, and among the lower social classes for whites. More blacks than whites knew about this condition, indicating that blacks were better informed about their blood pressure.