Prevalence of and risk factors for hypertension in a rural Bangladeshi adult population.
This was a population-based cross-sectional study conducted between August 2017 and January 2018 in an established field research site in Zakiganj and Kanaighat sub-districts of Sylhet district of Bangladesh. The aim of this study was to determine the population-level prevalence of and risk factors for hypertension in men and women aged 35 years and older in a rural population of Bangladesh.
We sampled 864 males and 946 females aged 35 years or older for a total of 1,810 study subjects for this study. Trained community health workers (CHWs) measured blood pressure (BP) using digital BP machine (OMRON 5 Series®, model: BP742N) during their scheduled home visits. Three measurements of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were taken at approximately 5-minute intervals. In addition to measurement of BP, CHWs obtained measurement of weight (in kilograms), height, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference and mid upper are circumference (MUAC) of the study participants and obtained data on co-variates, co-morbid conditions, and other risk factors. We adopted the WHO’s expanded STEP instrument to collect data on potential risk factors including data on dietary habit, salt intake, tobacco consumption, and physical activity. Data on other co-variates (e.g., household socio-economic status, education, occupation) and co-morbid conditions including family history of hypertension, history of diabetes, and cardiovascular disease were collected.
We have analyzed the study data to see the distributions of sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics of all study participants and to determine the prevalence of hypertension in males and females. We also have done simple and multivariable logistic regression analyses to investigate factors associated with hypertension in this population. The results are yet to be published in peer-reviewed journal.
Results from this study have been published in 2019 (Khanam et al., BMJ Open 2019). The prevalence of hypertension was 18.8% (95% CI 16.3 to 21.5) and 18.7% (95% CI 16.3 to 21.3) in adult males and females, respectively. Among those who were hypertensive, the prevalence of controlled, uncontrolled and unaware/newly identified hypertension was 23.5%, 25.9% and 50.6%, respectively among males and 38.4%, 22.6% and 39.0%, respectively among females. Another 22.7% males and 17.8% females had prehypertension. Increasing age and higher waist circumference (≥90 cm for males and ≥80 cm for females) were positively associated with hypertension both in males (OR 4.0, 95% CI 2.5 to 6.4) and females (OR 2.8, 95% CI 2.0 to 4.1).