Abstract-To analyze the health disparities relative to the prevalence of arterial hypertension and its therapeutic control in the active French population, in relation to occupational categories (OC), a population of 17 359 men and 12 267 women was assessed from January 1997 to April 1998. The initial phase was a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study designed to assess the incidence of arterial hypertension in a French working population. Information was collected by the worksite physician during the annual examination. Blood pressure (BP) was measured using a validated automatic device. Among subjects with a BP Ն140/90 mm Hg, patients not treated with antihypertensive drugs were invited to have an additional BP measurement, 1 month later. Overall prevalence was 16.1% for men and 9.4% for women. Both prevalence and therapeutic control of high BP were related to OCs in this study. Prevalence of hypertension was higher and maintenance of therapeutic control lower among lower OCs. In contrast, awareness of high BP and the proportion of hypertensive subjects under current treatment were not related to OCs. Educational level and low OC were significantly related to prevalence of high BP after adjustment for obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, and sedentary lifestyle in women only. A poor BP control under treatment was related to high alcohol intake and low OC in men. In women only, however, low educational level was related to high prevalence of hypertension and poor BP control under antihypertensive treatment. Inequalities in hypertension prevalence persist, with prevalence being higher among lower OCs. Social disparities were not observed, however, in awareness of their condition among hypertensive subjects and among patients for receiving versus not receiving any treatment for hypertension. In contrast, BP control under antihypertensive treatment was lower among lower OCs. Key Words: hypertension, arterial Ⅲ blood pressure Ⅲ population Ⅲ obesity Ⅲ socioeconomic factors Ⅲ body mass index Ⅲ alcohol Ⅲ epidemiology A rterial hypertension is one of the important determinants of health inequalities of cardiovascular diseases, which have been observed to persist or increase in developed countries in the previous 20 years. 1,2 Higher prevalence of hypertension and poorer therapeutic control of hypertension care have been noted in populations in the low social classes. [3][4][5] Information regarding the continued presence and type of disparity (prevalence or therapeutic control) could provide guidance for the most efficient treatment activities for reducing the disparity. For example, differences in prevalence would stress the importance of primary prevention. Differences in therapeutic blood pressure control would emphasize the need for reinforcing secondary prevention. These questions are all the more important because insufficient therapeutic control of hypertension at the population level has been shown to be persistent. 6 The causality chain between socioeconomic factors and blood pressure is complex. Hypert...

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Recent epidemiological findings have suggested that urban atmospheric pollution may have adverse effects on the cardiovascular system as well as on the respiratory system. We carried out an exhaustive search of published studies investigating links between coronary heart disease and urban atmospheric pollution. The review was conducted on cited articles published between 1994 and 2005 and whose main objective was to measure the risk of ischaemic heart diseases related to urban pollution. Of the 236 references identified, 46 epidemiological studies were selected for analysis on the basis of pre-defined criteria. The studies were analysed according to short-term effects (time series and case-crossover designs) and long-term effects (case-control and cohort studies). A link between coronary heart disease and at least one of the pollutants studied (PM10, O3, NOx, CO, SO2) emerged in 40 publications. Particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide were the pollutants most often linked with coronary heart disease. The association was inconstant for O3. Although the mean mortality or morbidity risk related to urban atmospheric pollution is low compared with that associated with other better-known risk factors, its impact on health is nevertheless major because of the large number of people who are exposed. This exhaustive review supports the possibility that urban pollution is indeed an environmental cardiovascular risk factor and should be considered as such by the cardiologists.