High blood pressure and exposure to dust from gold mine dumps among the elderly in South Africa: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate whether high blood pressure was associated with living close to a mine dump among the elderly in South Africa. Study design: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among the elderly in communities 1-2 km (exposed) and 5 km or more (unexposed), from five pre-selected mine dumps in Gauteng and North West provinces of South Africa. Methods: Structured interviews were conducted with 2397 elderly, using a previously validated ATS-DLD-78 questionnaire from the British Medical Research Council. Results: The prevalence of high blood pressure was 57.51% in the exposed and 46.66% in the unexposed communities, respectively. Results from the multiple logistic regression analysis showed that having high blood pressure was significantly associated with living in exposed communities (AOR = 3.04, 95% CI 2.41-3.83, P < 0.001). Other significant risk factors were being an previous and current tobacco smoker, age group, tertiary level of educational attainment, and having a history of occupational exposure to dust and chemical fumes. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that there are high levels of blood pressure among the elderly residing in communities located near mine dumps in South Africa.