Effectiveness of community-based interventions for prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

Abstract

Hypertension poses a significant public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa due to various risk factors. Community-based intervention for prevention and control of hypertension is an effective strategy to minimize the negative health outcomes. However, comprehensive systematic review evidence to inform effective community-based interventions for prevention and control of hypertension in low resource settings is lacking. This study aimed to synthesize the effectiveness of community-based interventions on prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. A comprehensive search for studies was carried out on PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection, Embase, Scopus, and Google scholar databases. The result of the review was reported according to PRISMA guidelines. Studies published in English language were included. Two independent reviewers conducted critical appraisal of included studies and extracted the data using predefined excel sheet. Experimental, quasi experimental, cohort and analytical cross-sectional studies conducted on adults who have received community-based interventions for prevention and controls of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa were included. In this systematic review, a total of eight studies were included, comprising of two interventional studies, two quasi-experimental studies, three cohort studies, and one comparative cross-sectional study. The interventions included health education, health promotion, home-based screening and diagnosis, as well as referral and treatment of hypertensive patients. The sample sizes ranged from 236 to 13,412 in the intervention group and 346 to 6,398 in the control group. This systematic review shows the effect of community-based interventions on reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, the existing evidence is inconsistence and not strong enough to synthesize the effect of community-based interventions for the prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, further primary studies need on the effect of community-based interventions for the prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. Systematic review registration number: PROSPERO CRD42022342823.