M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology) / The aim of this study was to investigate the effect that hypertension has on brain function. A neuropsychological test battery comprising of the following tests was employed as a multivariate measure of brain dysfunction in a quasiexperimental, matched group design: a) The Complex Figure Test of Rey (copy, immediate recall and delayed recall), b) the Logical Memory Test, c) the Digits Span Test, d) the Verbal Paired Associate Learning Subtest, e) the Controlled Oral Word Generation Test, fr the Trail Making Test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Subtest, This permitted a comparison in brain functioning between a group of hypertensive and a group of normotensive participants that were matched according to age, handedness, level of education and sex. The matching of variables increased the sensitivity of the study by controlling extraneous variables and ensured that the groups were compatible on the paired variables. The results were statistically analyzed by employing the Mann-Whitney U statistic for small groups and the Chi-square statistic on the measured variables. Further, content analysis was employed to test for significant differences in strategies of coping, immediate recall and delayed recall of the Complex Figure of Rey. The results indicated that: 1. there were significant differences in attention and concentration, motor functioning, perceptual abilities, information processing, memory, and planning and organisation between the two groups, with the hypertensive group obtaininq significantly lower scores on test measuring these variables; and 2. there were no significant differences in the verbal abilities (word fluency) of the two groups. The results support previous research, finding indications of vocal lesions located across the brains of people suffering from hypertension. Practical implications of the results are discussed and recommendations for future research have been made...

M.A. / It is a well-known fact that South Africans of all races are a high risk population for the development of coronary heart disease and hypertension . More recent statistics indicate that cardiovascular disease caused 12 % of deaths amongst black South Africans in 1994 (Webster, 1996). Risk factors for CHI) can be grouped into four domains : Biomedical (e.g. hypertension, family history), behavioural (e.g. substance intake), sociodemographic (e.g. socio - economic status) and personality (e.g. Type A Behaviour). While there is a general agreement on many of the risk factors for CHIC, there are many more which are still being debated such as the influence of offspring parental heart disease and hypertension and coronary - prone behaviour. In a developing country, such as South Africa, with its heterogeneous population, it seemed that cardiovascular diseases are assuming epidemiological proportions among both White and Black South Africans, and thus appears necessary to establish whether Black patients with cardiovascular disease exhibits the TABP, closely related with diseases of the cardiovascular system among Whites. Els (1987) noted that stress associated with lifestyle changes in Black urbanisation in South Africa, not only showed psychological markers of CHD, but also physiological markers, such as substance intake. A cohort of 67 Black South African university students (38 male & 29 female), with a mean age of 23 was selected. The experimental groups being children of parents with hypertension and heart disease and the controls being children of normotensive parents and without a history of heart disease. A battery of tests were used to measure TAB, depression, hostility, anger and substance consumption. Results indicated that the experimental groups showed a significantly higher index of Type A Behaviour (p < 0, 01) than the controls and there was a significant correlation in terms of Parental hypertension and parental heart disease with coronary - prone behaviour (anger, hostility and depression) as well as substance consumption.