Prevalence and factors associated with hypertension among rural community dwellers in a local government area, South West Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Many African countries including Nigeria are said to be at various stages of an epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCD). OBJECTIVE: This study determined the current pattern and correlates of hypertension among adults in some rural communities in South West Nigeria. METHODS: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 1012 individuals across 16 rural communities. The respondents' blood pressure, weight, height and waist circumference were measured. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done. RESULTS: Among the participants, 461 (45.6%) had hypertension out of whom 217 (47.1%) and 244 (52.9%) had stage 1 and stage 2 hypertension respectively. The systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressures increased with age. The significant predictors of hypertension were; increasing age (p<0.001), higher waist circumference (p = 0.01) and overweight / obesity (p = 0.03). While systolic blood pressure (SBP) had the strongest correlation with age, waist circumference (WC) was the strongest correlate of diastolic blood pressure (DBP). CONCLUSION: Despite being a rural population, there was a high prevalence of hypertension in the study area.