During the first phase of the project over 12,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 74 were sampled from seven communities: West Africa (Nigeria, urban & rural; Cameroon, urban & rural), the West Indies (St. Lucia, Barbados) and Maywood (lllinois). The screening examination provided information on blood pressure (BP), height, weight, waist/hip ratio, alcohol use, education/occupation, sodium/potassium excretion and social stress. These data provided estimates of hypertension prevalence in each geographic region and the contribution of the known risk factor to higher rates among United States Blacks. In the first phase considerable effort was directed toward establishing a strong research infrastructure in each of the sites and demonstrating the feasibility of cross-national blood pressure comparisons.