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Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a major risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases in developing countries. A comprehensive review of the prevalence of hypertension provides crucial information for the evaluation and implementation of appropriate programmes. METHODS: The PubMed and Google Scholar data...

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Autor principal: Bosu, William K
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2910685/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20626917
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-418
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author Bosu, William K
author_facet Bosu, William K
author_sort Bosu, William K
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a major risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases in developing countries. A comprehensive review of the prevalence of hypertension provides crucial information for the evaluation and implementation of appropriate programmes. METHODS: The PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched for published articles on the population-based prevalence of adult hypertension in Ghana between 1970 and August 2009, supplemented by a manual search of retrieved references. Fifteen unique population-based articles in non-pregnant humans were obtained. In addition, two relevant unpublished graduate student theses from one university department were identified after a search of its 1996-2008 theses. RESULTS: The age and sex composition of study populations, sampling strategy, measurement of blood pressure, definition of hypertension varied between studies. The prevalence of hypertension (BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg ± antihypertensive treatment) ranged from 19% to 48% between studies. Sex differences were generally minimal whereas urban populations tended to have higher prevalence than rural population in studies with mixed population types. Factors independently associated with hypertension included older age group, over-nutrition and alcohol consumption. Whereas there was a trend towards improved awareness, treatment and control between 1972 and 2005, less than one-third of hypertensive subjects were aware they had hypertension and less than one-tenth had their blood pressures controlled in most studies. CONCLUSION: Hypertension is clearly an important public health problem in Ghana, even in the poorest rural communities. Emerging opportunities such as the national health insurance scheme, a new health policy emphasising health promotion and healthier lifestyles and effective treatment should help prevent and control hypertension.
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spelling pubmed-29106852010-07-28 Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review Bosu, William K BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a major risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases in developing countries. A comprehensive review of the prevalence of hypertension provides crucial information for the evaluation and implementation of appropriate programmes. METHODS: The PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched for published articles on the population-based prevalence of adult hypertension in Ghana between 1970 and August 2009, supplemented by a manual search of retrieved references. Fifteen unique population-based articles in non-pregnant humans were obtained. In addition, two relevant unpublished graduate student theses from one university department were identified after a search of its 1996-2008 theses. RESULTS: The age and sex composition of study populations, sampling strategy, measurement of blood pressure, definition of hypertension varied between studies. The prevalence of hypertension (BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg ± antihypertensive treatment) ranged from 19% to 48% between studies. Sex differences were generally minimal whereas urban populations tended to have higher prevalence than rural population in studies with mixed population types. Factors independently associated with hypertension included older age group, over-nutrition and alcohol consumption. Whereas there was a trend towards improved awareness, treatment and control between 1972 and 2005, less than one-third of hypertensive subjects were aware they had hypertension and less than one-tenth had their blood pressures controlled in most studies. CONCLUSION: Hypertension is clearly an important public health problem in Ghana, even in the poorest rural communities. Emerging opportunities such as the national health insurance scheme, a new health policy emphasising health promotion and healthier lifestyles and effective treatment should help prevent and control hypertension. BioMed Central 2010-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC2910685/ /pubmed/20626917 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-418 Text en Copyright ©2010 Bosu; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bosu, William K
Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review
title Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review
title_full Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review
title_fullStr Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review
title_short Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review
title_sort epidemic of hypertension in ghana: a systematic review
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2910685/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20626917
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-418
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