Prevalence of Hypertension among Sudanese Rural Population, Sinnar State- Sudan

Abstract

Abstract Background: Hypertension is one of the major risk factors of cardiovascular diseases which increased the mortality and morbidity among people. The objective: The overall objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence rate of hypertension and its relation to socio-demographic factors among the study population. Materials and methods: A community-based descriptive study was conducted in rural district at Alsakania town, Sinnar State. The study participants were the resident citizens in age of 25-64 years, hypertensive and non-hypertensive and permanently resident in the study area with exclusion of the pregnant woman and the visitors. A cluster sampling technique was used and the total sample size mounted to 341 participants. Data were collected using standardized administered questionnaire and then analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Results: The study revealed that the prevalence rate of hypertension was 21.1% among the study population, the prevalence rate of systolic hypertension was 5.9% while the prevalence rate of diastolic hypertension was 10.0% with statistically insignificant differences between men and women (P value 0.409). The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures among the participants on cross tabulation with gender, yielded statistically insignificant difference (P value=0.409). Higher significant prevalence of hypertension was observed in age group of 55-64; the prevalence of hypertension in this age group was 18.6%, systolic hypertension was 13.6% while the diastolic hypertension was 11.9% (P value= 0.003). Nevertheless, the study yielded insignificant statistically differences of high prevalence of hypertension among the study participants in relation to some socio-demographic factors (P value>0.005). Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension among the population was relatively high, with higher significant prevalence among the participants in the age group of 55-64 year, married and those who were resident in the study area for ten years or more.