Nocturnal Hemodynamics in Somali Americans: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk

Cardiovascular health disparities are present within several minority communities, but it is unclear if such disparities are present in a growing African American subpopulation, Somali Americans, who differ genetically and culturally from African Americans of Western African ancestry. Ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring remains a gold standard measure to examine 24-h BP patterns to stratify cardiovascular risk profile. We sought to examine differences in the 24-h BP profile in a sample of young Somali Americans and compare their BP patterns to White study participants. We hypothesized that their BP and heart rate (HR) would be higher compared to closely matched White participants.