Prevalence Of Hypertension And Awareness Of The Causes And Effects Of Hypertension In Rural And Urban Communities Of Enugu State Nigeria

摘要

Developing countries face the double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases and of the later, hypertension is the most common. It is a major public health challenge with an ever increasing global prevalence which inherently increases the global disease burden whereas awareness of this disease and its determinants are poor. It contributes to about 500,000 deaths every year. This was a cross-sectional descriptive community survey carried out in urban and rural communities of Enugu southeast Nigeria. A multi-staged sampling technique was used to recruit 260 participants and data was collected by administering questionnaires. Blood pressure measurement and weight of all the subjects were done. These were analysed using EPI info statistical software version 6.04. The result shows that the prevalence of hypertension in urban and rural areas was 15.4% and 13.8% respectively but was not statistically significantly different. About 17.6% and 23% were perceived hypertensives for urban and rural areas respectively. From the study 17% and 44.5% of urban and rural respondents respectively have suffered from hypertension related illnesses (stroke, kidney disease, heart disease and eye problem). Approximately 45% of urban respondents and 83.7% of rural respondents believed that hypertension can be cured. The source of information and general knowledge of hypertension in urban and rural area was statistically significant (p≤0.05). In the urban area, their method of cure include drugs and lifestyle modification while in the rural areas, drugs and spiritual means was their way of curing the disease. Prevalence and awareness of hypertension is higher in the urban areas, however both communities are grossly unaware of the hypertensive associated diseases. Proper health education is recommended to reduce the prevalence of complications of the disease, change the trend and ultimately reduce the death in our environment.