Department of Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Zamfara
Maxwell N. Nwegbu
Circulatory Health Research Laboratory, College of Health Sciences, University of Abuja, Abuja; Department of Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, University of Abuja, Abuja
Kefas Zawaya
Department of Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe
Ime Essien
Department of Medicine, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom
Kabiru Sada
Department of Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Zamfara
John O. Ogedengbe
Circulatory Health Research Laboratory, College of Health Sciences, University of Abuja, Abuja; Department of Human Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Abuja, Abuja
Akinyemi Aje
Department of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo
Godsent C. Isiguzo
Department of Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi
Background: Previous studies that evaluated the prevalence, awareness and treatment of hypertension in Nigeria were either localized to some specific regions of the country or non-standardized thereby making evaluation of trend in hypertension care difficult. Methods: We used the World Health Organization (WHO) STEPwise approach to chronic disease risk factor surveillance to evaluate in a nationally representative sample of 4192 adult Nigerians selected from a rural and an urban community in one state in each of the six geo-political zones of the country. Results: The overall age-standardized prevalence of hypertension was 38.1% and this varied across the geo-political zones as follows: North-Central, 20.9%; North-East, 27.5%; North-West, 26.8%; South-East, 52.8%; South-South, 44.6%; and South-West, 42.1%. Prevalence rate did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) according to place of residence; 39.2% versus 37.5 %; urban vs rural. Prevalence of hypertension increased from 6.8% among subjects less than 30 years to 63.0% among those aged 70 years and above. Awareness was better (62.2% vs. 56.6%; P = 0.0272); treatment rate significantly higher (40.9 % vs. 30.8%; P 0.05) treatment (36.7 vs. 34.3%) and control (33.9% vs. 35.5%) rates of hypertension compared to men. Conclusion: Our results suggest a large burden of hypertension in Nigeria and a closing up of the rural-urban gap previously reported. This calls for a change in public health policies anchored on a primary health care system to address the emerging disease burden occasioned by hypertension.
