CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Vol 23, No 5, June 2012
AFRICA
267
the other hand, gender and marital status were not significantly
associated with hypertension (Table 2). The bivariate results
were confirmed using logistic regression analysis (Table 3).
Aside from BMI, using bivariate analyses, all factors studied
were associated with awareness of hypertension. Women, the
older and unmarried individuals were more often informed of
this problem than men, younger people and married individuals.
Likewise, many more individuals who had seen a doctor at least
once in the year preceding the interview were aware of their
hypertensive condition than those who had not seen a doctor
during this period. Lastly, and more surprisingly, people who
had had at least nine years of schooling were less often aware of
their hypertensive status than the less educated (Table 2). Most
of these results were controlled using logistic regression analysis
and only marital status was not significantly associated with
awareness of hypertension (Table 3).
Multivariate analysis showed that among hypertensives,
women, older adults, and those who had seen a doctor during the
preceding year more often reported taking treatment than men,
younger people, and those who had not seen a doctor during the
previous year, respectively (Table 3).
Results
The socio-demographic characteristics of our population sample
and the descriptive results regarding frequency of doctor visits
and BMI are presented in Table 1. Men were better educated
and less often overweight or obese than women. On the other
hand, more women had visited a doctor in the year preceding
the interview.
In our sample, the prevalence of hypertension was 65.4%
[95% confidence interval (CI): 61.5–69.3). Nearly half of the
individuals suffering from hypertension were aware of their
health problem, and 70% of the informed people reported being
treated for hypertension. Therefore, 37% (95% CI: 31.8–42.2) of
the people suffering from hypertension were treated. However,
among people reporting they were treated for hypertension, only
17.4% had controlled hypertension; i.e. 6.7% (95% CI: 4.0–9.4)
of the hypertensives (Fig. 1).
Bivariate analyses showed that hypertension increased steadily
with age in our sample, from 58% among those 50–59 years old to
76% among those 70 years and older. These analyses also showed
that overweight or obese individuals were more often affected
by hypertension than others (70.6 vs 59.3%, respectively). On
TABLE 2. FACTORSASSOCIATEDWITH HYPERTENSION, AWARENESS, TREATMENT AND CONTROL
Variable
Category
Prevalence
(
n
=
500)
Awareness
(
n
=
327)
Treatment among
hypertensives
(
n
=
327)
Treatment
among aware
(
n
=
171)
Control among
hypertensives
(
n
=
327)
Control
among treated
(
n
=
121)
% Analysis
% Analysis
% Analysis
% Analysis
% Analysis
% Analysis
Total
65.4
49.5
37
70.6
6.7
17.4
Gender
Men
63.9
c
2
(1 df)
=
0.57;
NS
36.3
c
2
=
24.20;
p
<
0.001
27.4
c
2
=
13.72;
p
<
0.001
71.4
c
2
=
0.34;
NS
3.6
c
2
=
5.49;
p
<
0.05
13
c
2
=
0.96;
NS
Women 67.1
63.5
47.2
70.1
10.1
20
Age (years)
50–59 58.2
c
2
(2 df)
=
13.60;
p
<
0.001
42.3
c
2
(2 df)
=
8.65;
p
<
0.05
30.8
c
2
=
6.42;
p
<
0.05
66.7
c
2
=
0.94;
NS
6.4
c
2
=
0.05;
NS
18.8
c
2
=
0.33;
NS
60–69 72.1
51
38.8
74
7.1
18.4
≥
70
76
63
47.9
72.9
7.8
14.3
Educational
level
None
68.9
c
2
(2 df)
=
3.91;
NS
52.2
c
2
=
6.59;
p
<
0.05
34.4
c
2
=
2.23;
NS
62.8
c
2
=
6.27;
p
<
0.05
8.3
c
2
=
1.32;
NS
24.1
c
2
=
3.07;
NS
1–8 years 65.1
52.9
42.1
75.8
5.8
11.8
≥
9 years
57
32.7
32.7
88.9
4.1
12.5
Marital status
Married 66.1
c
2
(1 df)
=
0.34;
NS
43.9
c
2
=
12.63;
p
<
0.001
32.9
c
2
=
7.08;
p
<
0.01
71.4
c
2
=
0.11;
NS
6.1
c
2
=
0.63;
NS
18.5
c
2
=
0.23;
NS
Not married 63.3
66.7
49.3
69
8.6
15
Doctor visits in
previous year
0
62.9
c
2
(1 df)
=
1.26;
NS
35.1
c
2
=
23.41;
p
<
0.001
19.2
c
2
=
38.12;
p
<
0.001
53.7
c
2
=
10.87;
p
<
0.001
2
c
2
=
10.05;
p
<
0.01
19.6
c
2
=
1.31;
NS
≥
1
67.7
61.9
52.3
78.4
10.8
10.3
BMI (kg/m
2
)
<
25
59.3
c
2
(1 df)
=
7.03;
p
<
0.01
46
c
2
=
1.19;
NS
34.3
c
2
=
0.74;
NS
69.7
c
2
=
0.04;
NS
8
c
2
=
0.64;
NS
23.4
c
2
=
1.96;
NS
≥
25
70.6
52.1
38.9
71.2
5.8
13.5
TABLE 3.ADJUSTED ODDS RATIOS FOR HYPERTENSION, AWARENESS, TREATMENT AND CONTROL
Variables
Categories
Hypertension
(
n
=
500)
Awareness
(
n
=
327)
Treatment among
hypertensives
(
n
=
327)
Treatment
among aware
(
n
=
171)
Control among
hypertensives
(
n
=
327)
Control among
treated
(
n
=
121)
OR IC (95%)
OR IC (95%)
OR IC (95%)
OR IC (95%)
OR IC (95%) OR IC (95%)
Gender (Men)
Women 1.01 0.66–1.56 2.4** 1.41–4.07 2.3** 1.31–4.06 1.45 0.59–3.56 2.79 0.92–8.47 1.56 0.41–5.9
Age (50–59 years)
60–69 1.94** 1.22–3.07 1.44 0.82–2.54 1.62 0.89–2.94 2.16 0.89–5.26 1.03 0.35–3.05 0.73 0.21–2.6
≥
70 2.54** 1.45–4.44 2.15* 1.11–4.17 2.24* 1.14–4.4 2.23 0.85–5.86 0.96 0.27–3.42 0.66 0.16–2.71
Educational level
(
≥
9 years)
None 1.28 0.73–2.23 1.72 0.8–3.69 0.73 0.33–1.61 0.2 0.04–1.07 1.66 0.32–8.56 2.14 0.34–13.54
1–8 years 1.23 0.71–2.14 2.15* 1.01–4.6 1.36 0.63–2.94 0.49 0.09–2.56 1.31 0.24–7.06 0.98 0.15–6.29
Marital status
(Married)
Not
married
0.81 0.51–1.28 1.48 0.8–2.75 1.13 0.61–2.1 0.54 0.22–1.32 0.94 0.32–2.77 0.9 0.25–3.27
BMI
(
<
25 kg/m
2
)
≥
25 kg/m
2
1.86** 1.24–2.79 1.23 0.73–2.06 1.13 0.66–1.91 0.94 0.44–2.03 0.7 0.27–1.81 0.62 0.22–1.8
Doctor visit in
previous year (
≥
1)
0
0.37*** 0.23–0.6 0.24*** 0.14–0.41 0.32** 0.15–0.69 0.17** 0.05–0.6 0.32 0.07–1.43
*
p
<
0.05; **
p
<
0.01; ***
p
<
0.001.
