Prevalence and factors associated with hypertension among rural community dwellers in a local government area, South West Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Many African countries including Nigeria are said to be at various stages of an epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCD).

OBJECTIVE

This study determined the current pattern and correlates of hypertension among adults in some rural communities in South West Nigeria.

METHODS

It was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 1012 individuals across 16 rural communities. The respondents' blood pressure, weight, height and waist circumference were measured. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done.

RESULTS

Among the participants, 461 (45.6%) had hypertension out of whom 217 (47.1%) and 244 (52.9%) had stage 1 and stage 2 hypertension respectively. The systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressures increased with age. The significant predictors of hypertension were; increasing age (p<0.001), higher waist circumference (p = 0.01) and overweight / obesity (p = 0.03). While systolic blood pressure (SBP) had the strongest correlation with age, waist circumference (WC) was the strongest correlate of diastolic blood pressure (DBP).

CONCLUSION

Despite being a rural population, there was a high prevalence of hypertension in the study area.