Treatment Outcome and Associated Factors Among Patients Admitted with Hypertensive Crisis in Public Hospitals at Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive crisis is a significant global health issue that raises the costs to healthcare systems and requires specific attention to improve clinical outcome. There is scarce information on hypertensive crisis cases treatment outcome in the study setting. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess treatment outcome and associated factors among patients admitted with hypertensive crisis at Public Hospitals in Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 369 hypertensive crisis patients who had been admitted to the emergency department of Hiwot Fana Comprehensive Specialized Hospital and Jugol General Hospital from May 1, 2017, to May 1, 2022. All hypertensive crisis patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included. The data were extracted from medical records using a data abstraction format. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22. Binary logistics regression model using bivariate and multivariable analysis with 95% confidence intervals and P-values were used to determine the association between variables. RESULTS: The medical records of 369 patients in total were reviewed. Of these, the medical records of 363 patients contained all the necessary information and were used in the study. More than half of the patients (238; 65.6%) were males. Among 363 patients admitted with hypertensive crisis, 98 (27.0%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI):22.5%-31.9%) of them had poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis. Being female (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR)=3.4; 95% CI=1.7−7.9), residing in rural areas (AOR=2.4; 95% CI=2.7−5.1), taking captopril during admission (AOR=5.6; 95% CI=2.4−7.9), taking antihypertensive treatment before admission (AOR=0.5; 95% CI=0.2−0.9), and being non compliant to treatment (AOR=2.7; 95% CI=1.4−3.5) had statistically significant associations with poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis compared to their counterparts. CONCLUSION: The magnitude of poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis was high. Sex, residence, non-compliance, and type of emergency drug administered during admission were substantially related with poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis. Health professionals should put great emphasis on emergency drugs administered during admission to achieve the desired outcome.