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
. 2017 Aug 9;17(1):647.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4646-4.

High burden of hypertension across the age groups among residents of Gondar city in Ethiopia: a population based cross sectional study

Abayneh Girma Demisse  1 , Ermias Shenkutie Greffie  2 , Solomon Mekonnen Abebe  3 , Abera Balcha Bulti  2 , Shitaye Alemu  2 , Bewketu Abebe  2 , Nebiyu Mesfin  2
Affiliations

High burden of hypertension across the age groups among residents of Gondar city in Ethiopia: a population based cross sectional study

Abayneh Girma Demisse et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: According to a report on the worldwide trends in blood pressure from 1975 to 2015, mean blood pressure is increasing in low and middle income countries while it is either decreasing or stabilizing in high income countries. Few studies have been published on the prevalence of hypertension in Ethiopia demonstrating an increased trend; however, these studies had small sample size and were limited to participants older than 35 years; which left the burden among adolescents and young adults unaddressed. The aim of this study was to assess prevalence of hypertension (HTN) and associated factors in Gondar city.

Method: A population based cross-sectional study was conducted among 3227 individuals in Gondar city. A multistage cluster random sampling was used. The Kish method from World Health Organization (WHO) STEPS instrument of random sampling method was used for selecting one individual older than or equal to 18 years from each household. WHO and International Diabetic Association (IDA) criterion was used to classify HTN.

Result: The overall prevalence of HTN was 27. 4% [95% CI: (25. 8-28.9)]. The prevalence for participants in the age group of ≥35 years was 36. 1%. It consistently increased from 9.5% in the age group of 18-25 years to 46.3% in the age group of ≥65 years (P-value < 0. 001). Only 47% of the participants had ever had any kind of blood pressure measurement. Being elderly (AOR = 5. 56; 95% CI: 3. 71-8. 35), obese (AOR =2. 62; 95%CI: 1. 70-4. 03), widowed (AOR = 1. 87; 95%CI: 1. 27-2. 75), separated (AOR = 1. 87; 95%CI: 1. 27-2. 75), daily alcohol user (AOR = 1. 51; 95%CI: 1. 02-2. 23), male gender (AOR = 1. 42; 95%CI: 1. 18-1. 72) and born in urban area (AOR = 1. 31; 95%CI: 1. 10-1. 56) were found to be independently associated with HTN.

Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of hypertension in Gondar city and is showing increasing trend compared to previous reports. Interventions to raise awareness and to improve both capacity and accessibility of facilities for screening hypertension are highly recommended.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the University of Gondar. In addition, a written permission was obtained from the respective local administration and hospital director. Participants were recruited voluntarily after obtaining full information about the research and signed a written consent agreement. They were informed of their rights to withdraw from the study at any stage. For the sake of privacy and confidentiality no personal identifiers such as names were collected.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

Authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean Systolic and diastolic blood pressure by age and sex among residents of Gondar city
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence of hypertension by sex and age among residents of Gondar city
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Prevalence of isolated systolic hypertension by age and sex among residents of Gondar city
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Prevalence of isolated diastolic hypertension by age and sex among residents of Gondar city
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. (London, England). Lancet. 2016;388(10053):1659-724. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Danaei G, et al. Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes mortality burden of cardiometabolic risk factors from 1980 to 2010: a comparative risk assessment. The lancet Diabetes & endocrinology. 2014;2(8):634-47. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collaboration, N.R.F. Worldwide trends in blood pressure from 1975 to 2015: a pooled analysis of 1479 population-based measurement studies with 19.1 million participants. (London, England). Lancet. 2017;389(10064):37-55. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cappuccio FP, et al. Prevalence, detection, management, and control of hypertension in Ashanti, West Africa. Hypertension. 2004;43(5):1017–1022. doi: 10.1161/01.HYP.0000126176.03319.d8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Edwards R, et al. Hypertension prevalence and care in an urban and rural area of Tanzania. J Hypertens. 2000;18(2):145–152. doi: 10.1097/00004872-200018020-00003. - DOI - PubMed