CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Vol 21, No 2, March/April 2010
AFRICA
81
To determine the independent predictors of LV mass, multi-
ple regression models were created. Univariate regression was
first performed for each continuous and categorical variable.
Thereafter variables having a significant correlation with LVM
were entered in stepwise multiple regression models.
In the final model, variables that exhibited a high degree of
collinearity were added or deleted iteratively. This was to achieve
a model with consistency and conciseness. The probability value
to enter and remove was set at
p
≤
0.05.
Results
Of the 285 subjects enrolled, there were 153 men (53.7%) and
132 women (46.3%); overall mean age was 58.2
±
13 years. Of
these, 146 patients were presenting for the first time at the hyper-
tension clinic (51.2%).
About 70.2% of the subjects were on thiazide diuretics and
56% were on calcium channel blockers. Angiotensin receptor
blockers and beta-blockers were prescribed for 44.6 and 13.7%
of the subjects, respectively. More than 60% of the subjects were
receiving two or more classes of drugs.
The clinical and demographic characteristics of the subjects
are shown in Table 1. There was no significant difference in the
mean age between the genders. The men were taller than the
women (
p
=
0.0006) while the women were heavier than the men
(BMI, 27.2
±
5.6 vs 25.6
±
4.8 for women and men, respectively.
About 64% of the women were overweight compared to 51% of
the men.
The duration of hypertension was longer in the men than the
women. A history of alcohol consumption was also commoner
in men. A positive family history of hypertension was obtained
in 43 subjects and more often in men. There was no significant
difference in blood pressure, heart rate, history of cigarette
smoking, presence of diabetes mellitus, marital status and
origin of subjects between the two genders. Table 2 depicts the
biochemical characteristics of the subjects.
TABLE 1. BASELINE CHARACTERISTIC OF 285 HYPERTENSIVE SUBJECTS SEENAT UCH, IBADAN,
ACCORDINGTO GENDER
Parameter
All subjects (n
=
285)
Women (n
=
132)
Men (n
=
153)
p
-value
Age (years)
58.2
±
13.7
57.6
±
13.2
58.8
±
14.1
0.468
Body weight (kg)
69.7
±
13.5
70.3
±
15.1
69.1
±
11.9
0.436
Height (cm)
162.8
±
8.7
161.0
±
8.5
164.5
±
8.6
0.0006
BMI (kg/m
2
)
26.3
±
5.0
27.2
±
5.6
25.6
±
4.8
0.00081
BSA (m
2
)
1.74
±
0.18
1.74
±
0.19
1.75
±
0.62
0.428
SBP (mmHg)
153.2
±
29.5
150.7
±
24.3
155.3
±
33.2
0.193
DBP (mmHg)
94.2
±
18.0
92.0
±
14.5
96.0
±
20.5
Pulse press (mmHg)
59.0
±
21.9
58.7
±
19.8
59.3
±
23.5
0.815
MAP (mmHg)
113.8
±
20.0
111.6
±
15.8
115.8
±
22.8
0.080
Heart rate (beats/min)
80.3
±
19.2
82.2
±
18.4
78.3
±
19.8
0.133
Duration of hypertension
(range in years)
4.0
±
7.4
(0–30)
2.55
±
5.9
(0–30)
5.19
±
8.20
(0–30)
0.004
Alcohol consumers
70
25
45
0.028
Cigarette smokers
31
11
20
0.138
Diabetes mellitus
17
8
9
0.572
Family history of hypertension
43
17
30
0.085
Overweight/obese (%)
159 (55.8)
84 (63.6)
77 (51)
0.035
Married (%)
249 (87.4)
111 (84.1)
138 (90.2)
0.162
BMI
=
body mass index, BSA
=
body surface area, SBP
=
systolic blood pressure, DBP
=
diastolic blood pressure, MAP
=
mean arterial blood
pressure.
TABLE 2. THE BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF HYPERTENSIVE SUBJECTS SEENAT UCH, IBADAN,
ACCORDINGTO GENDER
Parameter
All subjects
Women
Men
p-value
Sodium (mmol/l)
138.4
±
6.4
138.8
±
5.0
138.1
±
7.1
0.488
Potassium (mmol/l)
3.77
±
0.67
3.65
±
0.63
3.78
±
0.59
0.202
Creatinine (mg/dl)
1.57
±
1.31
1.26
±
0.32
1.79
±
1.67
0.0064
Uric acid (mg/dl)
7.4
±
2.9
6.63
±
2.27
7.91
±
3.14
0.066
Fasting blood glucose (mg/dl)
111.1
±
49.4
111.3
±
38.5
110.9
±
57.1
0.962
2-hour postprandial glucose (mg/dl)
135.2
±
74.4
129.6
±
55.3
140.3
±
88.7
0.489
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)
190.7
±
52.3
195.6
±
43.5
186.9
±
58.2
0.391
TG (mg/dl)
82.6
±
7.9
113.5
±
79.2
117.8
±
85.7
0.782
HDL (mg/dl)
43.7
±
20.0
47.02
±
23.4
41.2
±
20.8
0.180
LDL (mg/dl)
124.6
±
50.0
128.6
±
45.8
121.5
±
53.1
0.470
TG
=
triglycerides, HDL
=
high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL
=
low density lipoprotein cholesterol.
