Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2017;10(1):1321279.
doi: 10.1080/16549716.2017.1321279.

Prevalence,awareness and factors associated with hypertension in North West Tanzania

Neema R Mosha  1 , Michael Mahande  1 , Adinan Juma  2   3 , Innocent Mboya  4 , Rob Peck  5   6 , Mark Urassa  7 , Denna Michael  7 , Jim Todd  7   8
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Prevalence,awareness and factors associated with hypertension in North West Tanzania

Neema R Mosha et al. Glob Health Action. 2017.

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is a public health problem, and yet few people are aware of it and even fewer access effective treatment. With the ongoing demographic transition in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, people are changing from rural, manual work to urban lifestyles, hence the risk of hypertension increases.

Objective: This study aimed at determining the prevalence, awareness and risk factors associated with hypertension in North West Tanzania.

Design: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adults in Magu District in 2013. Information on socio-demographic, economic and lifestyle characteristics, medical conditions, and risk factors for hypertension were collected according to the WHO Steps survey tool. Measurements of blood pressure, blood sugar, pulse rate, and anthropometry were taken. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for factors associated with hypertension (Blood pressure ≥140/90mm/Hg). Frequencies and percentages were used to determine the awareness, and treatment among hypertensive participants.

Results: Among 9678 participants, the prevalence of hypertension was 8.0% and pre-hypertension 36.2%. There was a higher prevalence of hypertension at older ages, among females (8.2%) compared to males (7.7%), and among urban dwellers (10.1%) compared to rural residents (6.8%). Overweight, obese, and diabetic individuals had a higher risk of hypertension while HIV positive participants had a lower risk of hypertension (OR = 0.56; 95% CI 0.39 - 0.79). Among participants with hypertension, awareness was less than 10%.

Conclusion: By integrating blood pressure screening into our long-standing community HIV screening program, we were able to identify many previously undiagnosed cases of hypertension and pre-hypertension. Age, residence, overweight and obesity were the major associated factors for hypertension. Awareness and treatment rates are very low indicating the need for programs to improve awareness, and treatment of hypertension.

Keywords: Hypertension; adult; community-based; prevalence; risk factors; tanzania.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Awareness and treatment of hypertension by gender and residence among residents of Magu HDSS by sex (n = 773).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Danaei G, Singh GM, Paciorek CJ, et al. The global cardiovascular risk transition: associations of four metabolic risk factors with national income, urbanization, and Western diet in 1980 and 2008. Circulation. 2013. 9;127:1493–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hendriks ME, Wit FWNM, Roos MTL, et al. Hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa: cross-sectional surveys in four rural and urban communities. Plos One. 2012;7:32638. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Walker RW, Jusabani A, Aris E, et al. Stroke risk factors in an incident population in urban and rural Tanzania: a prospective, community-based, case-control study. Lancet Glob Health. 2013;1:282–288. - PMC - PubMed
    1. De Ramirez SS, Enquobahrie DA, Nyadzi G, et al. Prevalence and correlates of hypertension: a cross-sectional study among rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa. J Hum Hypertens. 2010;24:786–795. - PubMed
    1. WHO Global status report on noncommunicable diseases. Geneva: WHO; 2010.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources