Abstract

In cross-sectional surveys of arterial blood pressure carried out in rural and urban communities in the Bendel State of Nigeria, mean systolic and diastolic pressure was generally higher in urban than in rural subjects but the differences in particular age groups were statistically significant only in some of them. Two sample Student's t tests were carried out to compare the blood pressure of rural labourers, rural clerks, and urban clerks. It is not clear from our findings whether the differences in any particular age group between rural labourers and urban clerks should be attributed to occupation or to area of residence. However, the consistently intermediate values for rural clerks over the different age groups provides strong indirect evidence that both these factors are relevant.