title: Prevalence and associated factors of hypertension: a crossectional community based study in northwest ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypertension, being the root cause of many of the body sytem and organs failure, remains to be a major public health challenge globally. Though the problem is huge in both developed and developing countries, data are scarce in developing countries like Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the magnitude and associated factors of hypertension in North West Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted on adults aged 35 years and above in the rural and urban communities of Dabat district and Gondar town in 2012. The data were collected using the WHO STEPwise strategy. Hypertension was defined as having a Systolic blood pressure of ≥140 mmHg and/ or a Diastolic BP of ≥ 90mmHg or a reported use of anti-hypertensive medications for raised blood pressure. Prevalence was computed with a 95% confidence interval. Selected risk factors were assessed using a biviarete logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2200 participants were included in the study. The median age (±SD) was 47 (±12.4) years. The overall prevalence of hypertension was found to be 27.9% [95% CI 26.0, 29.8], with the proportion in the urban and rural residents being 30.7% and 25.3% respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was 29.3% for women and 26.3% for men. Out of the 598 hypertensive patients 241 (40.3%) had blood pressure measurements, and 99 (16.6%) had known hypertension and were on treatment. The proportion of systolic and diastolic hypertension in this subgroup of adults was 133(6.2%). The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed older age (AOR = 1.06; 1.05, 1.07), raised fasting glucose (AOR = 1.01; 1.001, 1.01), alcohol consumption (AOR = 1.71; 1.24, 2.36), and raised BMI (AOR =1.07; 1.04, 1.10) were significantly associated with hypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of hypertension was considerably higher in rural areas than previously reported. The health system needs to develop strategies to increase the reach of relevant screening and diagnostic services to both rural and urban populations.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Solomon Mekonnen
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Abebe
authors.affiliation: Addis Continental Institute of Public Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Yemane
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Berhane
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Alemayehu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Worku
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Assefa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Getachew
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents