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

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.