Socio-demographics, clinical characteristics and the status of blood pressure control among hypertensive patients attending to a medical clinic of a primary care level hospital in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is a major public health challenge in the world. It is an important predictor of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular accidents and death. Objectives: To describe the socio-demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics and status of blood pressure control among hypertensive patients attending a medical clinic of a primary care hospital in Sri Lanka Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among hypertensive patients followed up at the medical clinic in Divisional Hospital Ganthuna, Kegalle, Sri Lanka. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data on socio demographic, disease related and treatment related characteristics. Weight, height and blood pressure were measured. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS and findings were presented using descriptive statistics. Results: Among 173 hypertensive patients (rate of participation 92.5%) the majority were females (73.4%). Mean age of the participants was 64 years (SD = 10.8) and 61.8% of them were in the 58 to 77-year age group. More than three fourths of the hypertensive patients of this group (76.9%) had dyslipidaemia and 16.8% were diagnosed to have diabetes mellitus. Of all participants, 83.1% were on two or more antihypertensive drugs per day. Seventy eight percent of the participants had achieved the target blood pressure. Conclusion: Majority of the hypertensive patients had targeted blood pressure. The most frequently reported co-morbidity was dyslipidaemia followed by diabetes mellitus. Multi centric analytical studies with adequate numbers of patients are needed to explore the factors related to blood pressure control among hypertensive patients.