Hypertension prevalence, associated factors, treatment, and control in rural Cameroon: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a surge in the burden of hypertension, and rural communities seem to be increasingly affected by the epidemic. Objectives: We aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension, its associated factors, as well as its awareness, treatment, and control rates in rural communities of the Baham Health District (BHD), Cameroon.Design: A community-based cross-sectional study.Setting: Participants from five health areas in the BHD were recruited from August to October 2018.Participants: Consenting participants aged 18 years or older were included. Results: We included 526 participants in this study. The median age of the participants was 53.0 (IQR = 35 – 65) years and 67.1% were female. The prevalence of hypertension was 40.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 36.7 – 45.1) were hypertensive with no gender disparity. The overall age-standardised prevalence of hypertension was 23.9% (95% CI = 20.3 – 27.5). Five-year increase in age (adjusted odd’s ratio [AOR] = 1.34; 95% CI = 1.23 – 1.44), family history of hypertension (AOR = 2.22; 95% CI = 1.37 – 3.60), and obesity were associated with higher odds of hypertension (AOR = 2.57; 95% CI = 1.40 – 4.69).The rates of awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension were 37.2% (95% CI = 31.0 – 43.9), 20.9% (95% CI = 16.0 – 26.9), and 22.2% (95% CI = 15.2 – 46.5), respectively.Conclusion: The high hypertension prevalence in this rural community is associated with contrastingly low awareness, treatment, and control rates. Age, family history of hypertension, and obesity are the major drivers of hypertension in this community. Veracious policies are needed to improve awareness, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control of hypertension in this rural community.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Hypertension Among Adults in Gurage Zone, Southwest Ethiopia, 2022

“…On the contrary, The findings of this study appear to be lower than the result of the studies conducted in Felege Hiwot 27.3% ( Belachew et al, 2018 ), Northwest Ethiopia 27.9% ( Abebe et al, 2015 ), Rural Ethiopia 41.9% ( Shukuri et al, 2019 ), Nigeria 32.5% ( Ajayi et al, 2016 ), Cameroon 40.9% ( Simo et al, 2020 ), Nepal 32.5% ( Dhungana et al, 2016 ), and Urban Varanasi 32.9% ( Singh et al, 2017 ). These differences might be due to variations in nutritional habits, living standards, and socio-economic levels of the population, coverage of the national health system, and knowledge of prevention and treatment strategies across the countries ( Oluma et al, 2021 ).…”

High Burden of Hypertension Among Adult Population in Rural Districts of Northwest Ethiopia: a Call for Community Based Intervention

“…This indicates that hypertension is increasing at alarming rate overtime among the rural adult population in the country. However, our nding was much lower than those of studies conducted among rural residents of Dabat district, Northwest Ethiopia (25.3%) (32), Mali (21.1%)(69), Nigeria (26.8%) (70), Cameroon (23.9% and 31.1%) (71,72), and India (32.3%) (73). One possible reason might be the age difference in the study population where the median age of the study participants in those studies conducted in Dabat district, northwest Ethiopia (47 years) and Cameroon (53 years) were higher than this study (40 years).…”

“…In this study participants with FHH were 2.12 times more likely to have hypertension as compared to their counter parts. This nding was supported by studies conducted in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia(62), Gondar city (33), Dabat district and Gondar town (32), Addis Ababa (40), Sidama Zone(64), Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia (110), Durame town (38), Assosa town (111), Jigjiga city(82), Cameroon (71), Uganda(68), South India (59), and Sri Lankan adults (112). One possible reason might be blood relatives tend to have many of the same genes that can predispose a person to hypertension, heart disease and stroke (113,114).…”