An Observational Study on the Newly Diagnosed Hypertensive Patients – Their Anthropometric Measurement and Current Life-Style

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is one of the most common health problems globally and happens to be the leading risk factor for considerable morbidity and mortality. Hypertension is reported to be the fourth contributor to premature death in developed countries and the seventh in developing countries. Knowledge, attitudes and life style modifications of patients play an important role in controlling hypertension and preventing the long-term complications. Objective: The objective of this study was (1) To find out the socieo-demographic characteristics of the newly diagnosed hypertensive patients, and (2) To find out the association between hypertension and its’ four risk factors like obesity, physical activity, dietary habit, and smoking habit, among the newly diagnosed hypertensive patients. Methods: This is an observational and cross-sectional study, carried out in the Medicine Department, of Enam Medical college & Hospital, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Study period was from January 2020 to December 2021. Total 125 patients were diagnosed having hypertension first time and were included in the study. Patients’ waist circumference was measured in centimeters; body weight in kilogram and height in centimeter. Then BMI was calculated using the formula weight (kg)/height (m2). Along with this patients’ socio-demographic characteristics, and data regarding to the smoking & dietary habit were collected using a pre-designed, pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data; then the data were analyzed in the using the softwire, statistical package social science (SPSS 22.0 version). Results: We found more than half (53.60%) of our newly diagnosed patients are in the age group of 45 to 59 years (53.6%), and we had more male (57.6%) than female (42.4%). Among the 125 diagnosed hypertensive patients 70.40% had a BMI above 23 kg/m2 and 65.60% had high waist circumference. Nearly one-third patients use tobacco either smoking, chewing or by any other means and more than two-third of our do not use tobacco. Above 95% are active and have physical activity either occupation related and exercise related. 65% of the them take average amount of salt in their diet, one-third patients eat fruits regularly and 80% consume vegetables regularly. Conclusions: We need a comparative study to find out the effect of anthropometric measurement and lifestyle on hypertension and their effect on patients’ outcome, a case control study would be more conclusive.