Coronary heart disease and cerebral vascular disease in the South African Bantu; examination and discussion of crude and age-specific death rates.

A T A CONFERENCE on “Hormones and Atherosclerosis,” held at Brighton, Utah, questions were raised concerning age-specific death rates as against crude rates from coronary heart disease and cerebral vascular disease among the South African Bantu. These people often have been cited as an example of a population among whom coronary heart disease presents no public health problem; however, cerebral vascular diseases-softening and hemorrhage-certainly occur among them, although exacting a mortality rate lower than that prevailing among white populations.’6 The diseases in question affect primarily the middle-aged and elderly. The Bantu, as we will show, are a comparatively “young” population. What will be the effect of this feature on the relevant mortality pictures, and moreover, how reliable are these pictures? In addition to seeking to answer these questions, it is proposed to make certain suggestions for future research to remedy the inadequacies of present knowledge.