Statistical study of reported cases of hypertensive patients at Akulue Memorial hospital, Nsukka, Enugu state

Abstract

Hypertension arises when the blood pressure against the artery walls is very high. Blood pressure is represented with two numbers. The first number (systolic) signifies the pressure in blood vessels when the heart beats and while second number (diastolic) denotes the pressure in the vessels when the heart rests between beats. Usually hypertension is referred to as blood pressure above 130/90, and is considered severe if the pressure is above 180/120. Hypertension has been a major public health challenge in the world at large which is also the most common widespread of diseases affecting human life. Hypertension has been an important area of research due to its high prevalence and major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. It affects mostly adults and is called a silent killer because it shows no symptom. This article examines reported cases of hypertensive patients at Akulue Memorial Hospital, Nsukka, Enugu State. The data used in this research was collected from inpatient unit of the above mentioned hospital for a period of ten years, from 2009 to 2018. A 3-way contingency table was used based on Chi-squared test of independency. The result obtained from this study show that there is an association between the three criteria tested (gender, year and type of hypertension patient suffers). Also, we observed that the type of hypertension a patient suffers from depends on gender and year of occurrence.