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Prevalence of hypertension and associated factors among adults in Bahir-Dar city, North- west Ethiopia

Henok Gebreyohaness

Hypertension is one of the most common chronic disease affecting humans worldwide and it has imposed significant burden in developing countries as well. According to the Ethiopian national STEP survey result, the prevalence of hypertension is 15.8%. Despite the national estimate of high prevalence of hypertension in Ethiopia, little is known about associated factors at country level particularly at Bahir-dar town. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence and associated factors of hypertension among adults in Bahir-Dar city, North West Ethiopia.

Methods: Community based cross sectional study design was conducted by interviewing 522 households with adults using multistage sampling technique. A standard digital beam balance, tape meter and adult blood pressure measuring digital blood pressure apparatus were used to measure weight, height, and blood pressure, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS version16.0. Descriptive, biva-riate, and multivariate logistic regression methods were used to analyze prevalence of hypertension and the factors associated with it.

Results: Prevalence of hypertension was 24.3% and about 44.4% of participants were not aware that they had hypertension. Age, cigarette smoking, Overweight/Obesity, family history of hypertension and self- reported diabetes mellitus were found to be predictors of hypertension (P-value < 0.05).

Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension is high which is relatively high compared to the national estimate of 15.8%. A significant proportion of participants were unaware of having the hypertension. Hence, the community should visit the nearby health facilities and have a regular checkup for hypertension especially those with the risk factors such as who are overweight, elderly (≥55 years) and have family history of hypertension. Health workers should also focus to provide health education on early detection and timely treatment of hypertension.