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. 2018 Nov 7;18(Suppl 3):1219.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6052-y.

Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension and their determinants: results from a national survey in Kenya

Shukri F Mohamed  1   2 , Martin K Mutua  3 , Richard Wamai  4 , Frederick Wekesah  3   5 , Tilahun Haregu  3 , Pamela Juma  3 , Loise Nyanjau  6 , Catherine Kyobutungi  3 , Elijah Ogola  7
Affiliations

Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension and their determinants: results from a national survey in Kenya

Shukri F Mohamed et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and the leading cause of death worldwide. Despite growing evidence that the prevalence of hypertension is rising in sub-Saharan Africa, national data on hypertension that can guide programming are missing for many countries. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of hypertension, awareness, treatment, and control. We further examined the factors associated with hypertension and awareness.

Method: We used data from the 2015 Kenya STEPs survey, a national cross-sectional household survey targeting randomly selected people aged 18-69 years. Demographic and behavioral characteristics as well as physical measurements were collected using the World Health Organization's STEPs Survey methodology. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension. Multiple logistic regression models were used to identify the determinants of hypertension and awareness.

Results: The study surveyed 4485 participants. The overall age-standardized prevalence for hypertension was 24.5% (95% confidence interval (CI) 22.6% to 26.6%). Among individuals with hypertension, only 15.6% (95% CI 12.4% to 18.9%) were aware of their elevated blood pressure. Among those aware only 26.9%; (95% CI 17.1% to 36.4%) were on treatment and 51.7%; (95% CI 33.5% to 69.9%) among those on treatment had achieved blood pressure control. Factors associated with hypertension were older age (p < 0.001), higher body mass index (BMI) (p < 0.001) and harmful use of alcohol (p < 0.001). Similarly, factors associated with awareness were older age (p = 0.013) and being male (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study provides the first nationally-representative estimates for hypertension in Kenya. Prevalence among adults is high, with unacceptably low levels of awareness, treatment and control. The results also reveal that men are less aware of their hypertension status hence special attention should focus on this group.

Keywords: Africa; Awareness; Control; Hypertension; Kenya; Non-communicable diseases; Sub-Saharan Africa; Treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Kenya Medical Research Institute’s Ethics Review Committee (SSC No. 2607). Verbal consent was sought from the household head. All eligible participants gave informed written consent before interview and examination.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

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

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