Cardiovascular disease risk factors among subjects with high-normal blood pressure in a Nigerian tertiary health institution

Abstract

Background: There is a paucity of data on the relationship between high-normal blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular events in Sub-Saharan African countries including Nigeria. This study, therefore, primarily aimed to assess cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among subjects with high-normal BP in comparison with hypertensives and subjects with optimal BP. Materials and Methods: The study was cross-sectional, and comparative conducted at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano on eligible subjects aged 18 years and above. Three groups of randomly selected subjects (high-normal, hypertensives and optimal BP) each 100 in number were studied. High-normal BP was defined as systolic BP of 130–139 mmHg and/diastolic BP 85–89 mmHg. CVD risk factors including increased age, male gender, increased body weight, history of excess alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, sedentary lifestyle, family history of premature CVD, hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM) were assessed and compared between the groups. Results: The most prevalent CVD risk factor was increased body weight found among 58% of subjects with high-normal BP, 63% of hypertensives and 16% of subjects with optimal BP. The study found a significant progressive increase in age, body weight, DM, dyslipidemia and sedentary lifestyle as BP increased across the groups (P < 0.05 for each variable). Conclusions: Subjects with high-normal BP had significantly higher CVD risk factors than those with optimal BP but significantly lower than for hypertensives. Age, body mass index and FBG were independent predictors of high-normal BP.