BLOOD PRESSURE AND SALT CONSUMPTION

A. Tanskanen, J. Tuomilehto, P. Puska, P. Pietinen

SUMMARY

A comnunity-based pmgramne t o reduce s a l t consumption t o lower general b lood

pressure l e v e l s has been s t a r t e d i n North Kare l ia , a county i n Eastern F in land

w i t h high hypertension and card iovascular death (CVD) ra tes . The programne i s

based on the previous a c t i v i t y i n t h e comnunity t o c o n t r o l CVD r i s k f a c t o r s

( t h e North Kare l i a p r o j e c t ) . Previously, however, s a l t reduc t i on was no t

included amng the object ives.

The aim o f the study i s t o evaluate the f e a s i b i l i t y and e f f e c t s o f t h i s new

comnunity p r o g r a m t o reduce s a l t in take. The study pe r iod i s f r o m sp r ing

1979 t o sp r ing 1982.

populat ion samples, ages 14 t o 65, are examined both i n Nor th K a r e l i a and

a matched reference comnunity.

24-hour u r i n e c o l l e c t i o n [ f o r Na, K and c r e a t i n i n e exc re t i on ) and blood pressure.

A t t he outset and a t t h e end cross-sect ional random

The surveys i nc lude among o t h e r measurements

P r i n c i p l e s and methods o f t he basel ine survey are presented.

r e s u l t s confirmed the h igh s a l t i n t a k e o f t he populat ion: t h e mean 24-hour

u r i na ry Na excret ion was 215-218 mnol among men and 171-173 mnol among women.

The respect ive K exc re t i on values were 89-91 mnol and 72-73 mnol, and Na/K

r a t i o s 2.5-2.6 and 2.4-2.5. The 24-hour c r e a t i n i n e exc re t i on was on t h e

average a l i t t l e b i t h igher i n the reference area than i n Nor th Kare l i a .

There was no c o r r e l a t i o n between 24-hour sodium exc re t i on and s y s t o l i c and

d i a s t o l i c blood pressure.

P re l im ina ry

It i s concluded t h a t research should prov ide i n fo rma t ion on the f e a s i b i l i t y

and methods needed i n general s a l t i n take reduc t i on and assess the extent t o

which t h i s could con t r i bu te t o comnunity c o n t r o l o f hypertension, a major

p u b l i c hea l th pmblem o f our soc ie ty .