Physical Activity and Incident Hypertension Among Blacks: No Relationship?

Understanding the role (particularly the mechanisms of action) that physical activity plays in the development of hypertension among blacks is important for risk reduction efforts and public policy actions, especially because blacks bear the highest burden of hypertension, and crosssectional studies suggest that physical activity may be associated with reduced hypertension in blacks (1). We therefore sought to ascertain this relationship between physical activity and incident hypertension among blacks with a study design permitting causal inference.