Abstract
Background:Previous studies that evaluated the prevalence, awareness and treatment of hypertension in Nigeria were either localized to some specific regions of the country or non-standardized thereby making evaluation of trend in hypertension care difficult.Methods:We used the World Health Organization (WHO) STEPwise approach to chronic disease risk factor surveillance to evaluate in a nationally representative sample of 4192 adult Nigerians selected from a rural and an urban community in one state in each of the six geo-political zones of the country.Results:The overall age-standardized prevalence of hypertension was 38.1% and this varied across the geo-political zones as follows: North-Central, 20.9%; North-East, 27.5%; North-West, 26.8%; South-East, 52.8%; South-South, 44.6%; and South-West, 42.1%. Prevalence rate did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) according to place of residence; 39.2% versus 37.5 %; urban vs rural. Prevalence of hypertension increased from 6.8% among subjects less than 30 years to 63.0% among those aged 70 years and above. Awareness was better (62.2% vs. 56.6%; P = 0.0272); treatment rate significantly higher (40.9 % vs. 30.8%; P < 0.0001) and control similar (14 vs. 10.8%) among urban compared to rural residents. Women were more aware of (63.3% vs. 52.8%; P < 0.0001); had similar (P > 0.05) treatment (36.7 vs. 34.3%) and control (33.9% vs. 35.5%) rates of hypertension compared to men.Conclusion:Our results suggest a large burden of hypertension in Nigeria and a closing up of the rural-urban gap previously reported. This calls for a change in public health policies anchored on a primary health care system to address the emerging disease burden occasioned by hypertension.
Highlights
In 2016, high systolic blood pressure was reported by the Global Burden of Disease Risk Factors Collaborators as a leading cause of global disease burden in both men and women [1]
The South-East had the highest prevalence of hypertension (52.8%) while the lowest rate of 20.9% was observed in the North-Central region
The key findings of our study were that 38% of adult Nigerians aged 18 years and above were hypertensive
Summary
In 2016, high systolic blood pressure was reported by the Global Burden of Disease Risk Factors Collaborators as a leading cause of global disease burden in both men and women [1]. The available nationwide data on the epidemiology of hypertension in Nigeria was based on the Non-communicable disease survey published in 1997 [9] This data is obsolete and no longer reliable as the threshold for the diagnosis of hypertension was a blood pressure of 160/95 mmHg as against the acceptable current threshold of 140/90 mmHg. that report did not include data on awareness, treatment and control of hypertension across various regions of Nigeria. Conclusion: Our results suggest a large burden of hypertension in Nigeria and a closing up of the rural-urban gap previously reported This calls for a change in public health policies anchored on a primary health care system to address the emerging disease burden occasioned by hypertension
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