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Background: Pygmies living in the Central African rainforest with a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle have a low incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Because of progressive loss of traditional habitat and ancestral lands, some Pygmies have migrated to urban areas and adopt specific Bantu lifestyles such as increased salt consumption and a sedentary way of life. We tested the hypothesis that migrant Pygmies could present with hemodynamic and metabolic characteristics different from those of traditional in-situ Pygmies and possibly closer to those of Bantu farmers., Patients and Methods: The study included 148 Pygmies (94 traditional and 54 migrants) and 164 Bantus. Peripheral and central hemodynamics, aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), and augmentation index corrected for heart rate (AIx) were measured, as well as fasting lipid profile. Urinary sodium and potassium excretion was also measured on a morning spot., Results: Compared to Bantus, Pygmies had lower height (even between men and women, but men were taller than women in the three groups), weight, waist and hip circumference, peripheral and central blood pressure, total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein B100 levels, sodium urinary excretion, and lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome. By contrast, they had a higher waist-to-hip ratio, and higher triglycerides levels, as compared to Bantu farmers. PWV and AIx did not differ between Bantus and Pygmies. Compared to traditional in-situ Pygmies, migrant Pygmies were not taller when adjusted for sex, had lower brachial and central blood pressure, higher PWV (adjusted for mean arterial pressure, BMI, and sex), and higher apolipoprotein B100 levels. In the whole population, multivariable analysis revealed that PWV was independently associated with age, weight, height, mean arterial pressure, total cholesterol, and hip circumference, whereas AIx was independently related to age, sex, height, heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, and group (from Bantu farmers to Pygmies)., Conclusion: Comparisons between Bantus and Pygmies, and between migrant Pygmies and traditional in-situ Pygmies, showed mixed results, with favorable and deleterious hemodynamic and metabolic characteristics in all groups. This could be due to increased contacts between these populations, which blunt the expected differences and because the beneficial effects of the hunter-gatherer subsistence mode of traditional in-situ Pygmies are counterbalanced by unhealthy behavioral habits.

We aimed to assess whether arterial distensibility estimated by pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AI) differs between Cameroon traditional pygmies (TPs) on hunter-gather subsistence mode, contemporary pygmies who migrated to semiurban area, and the Bantou farmers (BFs) sharing the same environment. For that purpose, we recorded carotid-femoral PWV (ComplioR) in age and sex carefully matched 20 TPs, 20 contemporary pygmies, and 22 BFs. Aortic AI corrected for heart rate and blood pressures were generated from pressure wave analysis (SphygmoCor). Lipid profile was determined in TP and BF participants. TPs were shorter (P=0.02) with lower body weight (P<0.01) in comparison with contemporary pygmies and BFs. TPs had lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol but higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol than BFs (P<0.01). Their PWV (5.81±0.21 m/s) was slower (P=0.006) than that of contemporary pygmies (6.82±0.36 m/s) or BFs (6.93±0.29 m/s); however, after its adjustment for age, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate, the difference was slightly attenuated (P=0.051). PWV adjusted for weight did not differ between groups (P=0.10). In the whole study population but not in TPs taken separately, multivariate regression analysis revealed that PWV was independently associated with mean arterial pressure, age, and TP status (P<0.001), whereas age, mean arterial pressure, and height emerged as independent determinants of aortic AI corrected for heart rate (P<0.001). Aortic AI corrected for heart rate did not differ in the 3 groups. In conclusion, hunter-gather lifestyle is associated with low atherosclerosis risk translated by lower aortic stiffness attributed at least partly to low weight and blunted effects of aging and blood pressures on TP arterial structure and function.