Twenty-four hour ambulatory blood pressure reference values in Africans.

Objective: We aimed to establish reference values for 24 h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring in an African community.

Patients And Methods: We randomly recruited 1219 participants of African ancestry from Soweto, a township in Johannesburg. Twenty-four hour ABP was measured using ABP monitors (model 90207; Spacelab).

Low levels of physical activity in female adolescents cause overweight and obesity: are our schools failing our children?

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity among female adolescents is a global health problem. In developing countries such as South Africa, this increase is often associated with urbanisation and the adoption of a Western lifestyle. Two aspects of the Western lifestyle that contribute to the development of overweight and obesity are a decrease in physical activity levels and an increase in the consumption of energy-dense food, high in fats and refined sugar.