Frequency and risk factors stratification of hypertension among the rural population of Bangladesh.

Background And Objectives: Hypertension is one of the major risk factors of premature morbidity and mortality in our daily clinical practice. Various studies carried out in the urban settings, but there is scarcity of epidemiological data regarding hypertension among the rural people in Bangladesh. Therefore, this current study has been designed to find out the frequency and risk factors stratification of hypertension among the rural people in Jashore, Bangladesh.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study recruited 1812 participants above 18 years attending on national hypertensive week of 2019 in Bagherpara and Keshabpur upazila (subdistrict) health complex in Jashore, Bangladesh. 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines had been demonstrated to classify hypertension.

Results: Out of the total study population, the frequency of hypertension was 20.6% (Grade 1 and Grade 2 hypertensive patients 15.8% and 4.9%, respectively), and high normal blood pressure was 9.0%. The mean age of the study population, Grade 1 hypertensive and Grade 2 hypertensive cohorts were 42 ± 16, 49 ± 15 and 51 ± 14 years, respectively, with a male and female ratio was 1:2. Progressive rise of mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were noticed with increasing age. Age (: <0.001), sex (: 0.004), occupation (: <0.001), BMI (: <0.001), family (: <0.001) and past history (: <0.001) of hypertension, sedentary life style (: 0.004), additional salt intake (: <0.001) and smoking (: 0.011) were significantly associated with hypertension following bivariate analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age after 50 years (AOR = 1.866, 95% CI: 1.210-2.876), positive past history of hypertension (AOR = 3.493, 95% CI: 2.676-4.558), additional salt intake (AOR = 0.591, 95% CI: 0.453-0.770) and obesity (AOR = 3.389, 95% CI: 1.830-6.274) were significantly associated with developing hypertension.

Conclusion: High frequency of hypertension was found among the rural population in Bangladesh where presence with a lot of significantly associated risk factors. The data would be helpful for the health policymakers dealing noncommunicable diseases to reach the sustainable goal and mitigate morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular diseases in Bangladesh.