American Journal of Hypertension, Essay Example

P African American men and women/ I anti-hypertensive/ C salt free diet and regular exercise/ O maintain normal blood pressure readings

PICO – (P) African American men and women/ (I) anti-hypertensive/ (C) salt free diet and regular exercise/ (O) maintain normal blood pressure readings.

Essentially the combined findings correlated a connection between increased hypertension and normal blood pressure readings with regular diet and exercise for African American men and women. The sample sizes of the participants in the four separate studies did appear to be on the small size, and this was acknowledged by the authors of the various four studies. Adding to the small sample size limitation was the age group of the participants, and specifically the age group appeared to be a further impediment towards the analysis of the findings. (One sample study only had approximately 55 subjects, all were African American women (no males) and all participants were within an age range of 53 +/- 1 years of age.) – quite a restrictive study and subsequent associated conclusions could be drawn.

For a more effective study there needs to be considerably more participants, approximately into the four figure range, substantially more African American males involved, and a more controlled and standardized process or method of study. Study 3 relied purely on interviews only, despite being detailed consultations in nature, but far more open to slanted results, as it obviously heavily relied on the dependency of the integrity on participant feedback to all of the questions asked in the study.

As previously stated, whilst there appears to be a link between anti-hypertension and diet and regular exercise and maintaining normal blood pressure readings for African American men and women, it is my belief that more extensive research is required to advance and explore this association further.

References

Feairheller, D., Sturgeon, K, M., Diaz, K, M., Veerabhadrappa, P., Williamson, S, T. (2010, August). Prehypertensive African-American Women Have Preserved Nitric Oxide and Renal Function but High Cardiovascular Risk, Kidney & Blood Pressure Research, 33.4: 282-90.

Kidambi, S., Kotchen, J, M, Krishnaswami, S, Grim, C, E, Kotchen, T, A. (2009). Aldosterone Contributes to Blood Pressure Variance and to Likelihood of Hypertension in Normal-Weight and Overweight African Americans, American Journal of Hypertension 22.12: 1303-8.

Conlin, P, R., Erlinger, T, P., Bohannon, A., Miller, E, R., Iii; A., Lawrence J., (2003, May). The DASH diet enhances the blood pressure response to losartan in hypertensive patients, American Journal of Hypertension, 16. 5: 337-342.

Ogedegbe, G., Mancuso, C, A, Allegrante, J, P. (2004, April). Expectations of blood pressure Management in hypertensive African-American patients: A qualitative study, Journal of the National Medical Association, 96. 4: 442-9.