Population biology and aging: The example of blood pressure

Cross-sectional studies of aging trends in traditional societies are open to question because of widespread cohort trends, which can have different impacts on different age groups. An illustration of this problem is taken from blood pressures studies on the classic Framingham Heart Study, in which cross-sectional results give a very different indication from longitudinal results of aging trends in this modern population. Semilongitudinal studies of blood pressure in Soloman Islands populations are reviewed to show the dramatic indicators in modernising groups there of rapid blood pressure increases over approximately a decade in adult cohorts of all ages. The partitioning of aging vs. cohort effects is only possible with this technique.