Abstract P396: The Stroke Belt: Forged in the Heat of the Buckle? A Hypothesis [Session Title: Epidemiology]

The “stroke belt”(SB) in the SE USA has significantly higher stroke rates in whites (W) and African Americans (AA). HTN is the major driving force. The “Buckle” (B) of the SB, with even higher rates, lies along the costal “low country” plains of the Carolinas. Being born in the B is a powerful exposure that increases risk. Forty percent of all US slaves came thru, slaved and many died in the B of the SB. While reading the scholarly review “Slavery, Disease and Suffering in the Southern Low Country”, by Dr. Peter McCandless, (Cambridge U Press, 2011) I was stuck with the effect of the hot, humid weather with morbidity and mortality in the B. He details three decimating “fevers”. The first two, Malaria and Yellow Fever, are known to have left their mark on the human genome. The third fever, “Malignant Fever” (MF), coined by James Lind in “An Essay on Diseases Incidental to Europeans in Hot Climates” (London, 1768). MF was characterized as a fever of sudden onset resulting in rapid death in a few days. Lind describes MF morality in sailors “wooding” onshore during hot days who died overnight if they failed to return to the “cleaner air” of the ship. Many new arrivals, including military forces, to the SB/B succumbed to MF in days. Especially in the summer. Treatment of MF was removal to an area of “healthier air”/high country which quickly “cured” MF. I suggest this lowered the heat index, improving survival in heat illness/stroke or ...
Source: Hypertension - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Poster Abstract Presentations Source Type: research