May Measurement Month 2017: Results from Cabo Verde—Sub-Saharan Africa

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. Cabo Verde is in an epidemiological transition, with replacement of infectious diseases by chronic diseases, and the major cause of morbidity/mortality is cardiovascular disease which caused 28.9% of the total deaths in 2016. The only data we have are from 2007—the Ministry of Health and Social Security used a study STEP approach in which the prevalence of hypertension was 35%. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2017 (MMM17). Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. A total of five islands and eight centres, including hospitals and local health centres participated in this study, with about 20 volunteers/investigators. A total of 2630 individuals were screened during MMM17. After multiple imputation, 760 (29.0%) had hypertension defined as being on BP lowering treatment or having a BP ≥140/90 mmHg. Of individuals not receiving anti-hypertensive medication, 232 (11.1%) were hypertensive. Of 522 individuals receiving anti-hypertensive medication with an available BP, 225 (43.1%) had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 was the largest BP screening campaign undertaken in Cabo Verde. The proportion of hypertensives in the population in study was 29.0%, with most of these on treatment, and 43.1% of those on treatment with uncontrolled hypertension. These results suggest that opportunistic screening can identify significant numbers with raised BP.