Ali A. Saadon Al-Ghuzi and Jasim N. Al-Asadi
Objectives: To estimate the prevalence, subtypes, and sociodemographic determinants of hypertension among adults in Nassiriya city.
Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross sectional household survey was carried out in Thi-Qar governorate, Southern Iraq, on 2148 adults from two areas in Nassiriya city, aged 18 years and above, recruited between 1st of November 2012 and 31st of 2014 using multistage sampling.
Main Outcomes and Measures: Hypertensive patient was defined as an individual with self-reported treated hypertension or with an average of two blood pressure measurements of systolic blood pressure 140 and or diastolic blood pressure 90 mmHg or more. Questionnaire based interview was used to measure the determinants.
Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension was 26.5% (19.1% were known hypertensives and 7.4% were unrecognized hypertensives). The prevalence of prehypertension was 58.0%. Of the recognized hypertensives, only 25.4% were with controlled blood pressure. The prevalence of isolated systolic and isolated diastolic blood pressure among the study population were 6.8% and 4.0% respectively. Significant independent association was found between age, family history of hypertension, education, type of the family, socioeconomic status and prevalence of hypertension.
Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension in Thi-Qar Governorate was high. This necessitates effective preventive and control measures.
