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Meta-Analysis
. 2015 Oct 13;10(10):e0140021.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140021. eCollection 2015.

Current Prevalence Pattern of Hypertension in Nigeria: A Systematic Review

James Tosin Akinlua  1 , Richard Meakin  1 , Aminu Mahmoud Umar  2 , Nick Freemantle  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Current Prevalence Pattern of Hypertension in Nigeria: A Systematic Review

James Tosin Akinlua et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The global burden of hypertension and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is rapidly increasing, and the African continent seems to be the most affected region in the world. The prevalence of hypertension in Nigeria forms a substantial portion of the total burden in Africa because of the large population of the country currently estimated to be over 170 million.

Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to summarise up to date data on the prevalence and distribution of hypertension in Nigeria from prevalence studies.

Methods: A search of the following databases: PubMed, EMBase and WHO cardiovascular InfoBase from 1968 till date was conducted to identify studies which provide estimates of prevalence of hypertension in Nigeria.

Results: The search yielded a total of 1748 hits from which 45 relevant studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. The overall crude prevalence of hypertension ranged from 0.1% (95%CI:-0.1 to 0.3) to 17.5% (95% CI: 13.6 to 21.4) in children and 2.1% (95%CI: 1.4 to 2.8) to 47.2% (95%CI: 43.6 to 50.8) in adults depending on the benchmark used for diagnosis of hypertension, the setting in which the study was conducted, sex and ethnic group. The crude prevalence of hypertension ranged from 6.2% (95%CI: 4.0 to 8.4) to 48.9% (95%CI: 42.3 to 55.5) for men and 10% (95%CI: 8.1 to 12) to 47.3% (95%CI: 43 to 51.6%) for women. In most studies, prevalence of hypertension was higher in males than females. In addition, prevalence across urban and rural ranged from 9.5% (95%CI: 13.6 to 21.4) to 51.6% (95%CI: 49.8 to 53.4) and 4.8% (95%CI: 2.9 to 6.7) to 43% (95%CI: 42.1 to 43.9) respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence of hypertension is high among the Nigerian population. Appropriate interventions need to be developed and implemented to reduce the preventable burden of hypertension especially at Primary Health Care Centres which is the first point of call for over 55% of the Nigerian population.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Map of Nigeria showing the 6 geo-political zones, 36 states and federal capita territory (adapted from [11].
Fig 2
Fig 2. Study selection and extraction adapted from [32].
Fig 3
Fig 3. Forest Plot showing prevalence of hypertension% & 95%CI across studies that used BP cut-off ≥ 160/90mmHg.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Forest Plot showing U-R difference of prevalence of hypertension in studies comparing rural and urban populations.
U-R difference = Urban-Rural difference
Fig 5
Fig 5. Forest plot showing hypertension prevalence and 95% CI across 17 ethnic groups in the Murthy, G et al 2013 study[73].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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