| dc.description.abstract | Hypertension has become a major concern for public health globally. With 40% of
people in the world's population suffering from hypertension, Africa ranks the highest
with a prevalence of 46%. The high burden in developing countries is due to increased
levels of risk factors (Sani et al., 2010). In Kenya 20-30% of the adults were said to
have hypertension (Department of Non-Communicable Diseases, 2014). However,
there is limited data about prevalence of high blood pressure as well as the factors that
contribute to it among adult patients seeking treatment in Nairobi. The research's
purpose was to give a better understanding of the factors that are associated with
hypertension among patients attending Mbagathi hospital with an aim of curbing the
associated risk factors in order to manage increase in hypertension. The main objective of the
study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with hypertension. Fisher’s
formula was adopted for calculating the sample size in the study population and
systematic random selection was applied. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional
design. Data collection was done using questionnaires that included open and closed
ended questions. Participants were allowed to exercise an informed consent before
responding to questions. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were
obtained using appropriate measuring instruments. The instruments used included a
sphygmomanometer, stadiometer scale and a weighing-scale. Descriptive statistics
mainly means and frequencies were used to analyze data. Inferences were made using
chi-square statistic. P<.05 was used as the statistical significance level. The prevalence
of high blood pressure was 29.3%. A prevalence of hypertension of 42.2% was found
among patients with hypertensive parents. A significant relationship between family
history and hypertension (P<0.05) was found using a statistical chi- square test while
69.9% of the participants had a family member who had hypertension. About 4.7% of
the participants smoked while 13% were obese. Most of the respondents (60.5%) ate
vegetables daily, 32.2%ate weekly while 6.8% ate occasionally. Eating vegetables was
inversely related to high blood pressure. The high prevalence seen in hypertension as
well as family history being an associated risk factor, calls for urgent interventions to
address the high hypertension prevalence which will lead to its control. The County
government of Nairobi needs to put more emphasis on intervention programs for
hypertension and prioritize on factors contributing to hypertension in particular family
history and age so as to bring out better from interventions in the population. | en_US |
