The Influence of Standard of Living

THE HURRY and worry that accompany Western civilization are often invoked as etiologic factors in hypertension. In Fiji and the Gilbert Islands some populations do not show the higher blood pressures of later life characteristic of Western populations.1 It is tempting to associate the apparently indolent, secure, and unhurried life of the Pacific Islander with this relative freedom from hypertension. To test the possible influence of the "Western" way of life among these Pacific populations, I set out to compare in the same race the blood pressures of a middle-aged group that had led such a life, with a group that had not. Few Fijians and hardly any Gilbertese lead "Western" lives, but there is such a group among the Indians of Fiji. The rural Indian population of Fiji has been studied and shown to have an incidence of high blood pressure almost as low as among Fijians.2 There are numbers of Indian men in business and the professions in Fiji, whose wealth and influence are increasing. Most of them have lived in relative physical comfort compared with the rural Indians. They have been concerned with clerical work rather than manual labor, and have accepted the strains of business competition. It is a common prejudice among members of this group that they suffer from high blood pressure, because, they say, high blood pressure is associated with worry and with drinking alcohol. During March 1960, a survey of casual arterial pressure was conducted among the Indian business men of Suva, Fiji, to compare