Author(s)

Iwunze Anuli¹, Egwim Jideuma^1*, Onuoha Frank¹, Olekanma Chinonye¹, Ndukwu Chiagozie¹, Igbonagwam Hope¹, Dike Victor²

¹Department of Family Medicine, Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri, Nigeria.
²Department of Public Health, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally and hypertension is a major contributor to this burden. Many people with hypertension have poorly controlled blood pressure and up to half of the adults with hypertension are unaware of their hypertensive status due to factors that bother on poor management and poor screening approaches. The implication is that people who have poor access to healthcare especially those in the rural communities are at increased risk of cardiovascular complications and all-cause mortality. Unfortunately, not much has been done to ascertain the burden of undiagnosed hypertension and associated risk factors in rural communities in Nigeria. Methods: We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study in a rural community in Imo State, Nigeria, on burden of undiagnosed hypertension with participants recruited via a multi-stage sampling method. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used, and standardized instruments were applied to obtain, process and analyze the data. Tests of association between the independent variables and outcome were conducted using logistic regression. P-value of < 0.05 was used as the criterion for statistical significance. Results: A total of 380 adults participated in the study. The mean age was 44.2 years. The prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension was 35.8%. Logistic regression revealed that age, with the respondents in the age groups 26 - 35 years (OR = 10.647, 1.910 - 59.345, p-value = 0.007), 36 - 45 (OR = 3.680, 1.263 - 10.723, p-value = 0.017), 46 - 55 years (OR = 2.737, 1.114 - 6.727, p-value = 0.039), 56 - 65 years old (OR = 3.384, 1.610 - 7.115, p-value = 0.001); and being married (OR = 3.846, 1.118 - 13.233, p-value = 0.033), were independent risk factors for undiagnosed hypertension. Conclusion: The prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension in the rural population of South-East Nigeria is high. Younger age (26 - 35 years) had the highest odds of risk for occurrence of hypertension. Also being married was identified as a risk factor for undiagnosed hypertension.

Hypertension, Undiagnosed Hypertension, Risk Factors, Rural Community

Anuli, I. , Jideuma, E. , Frank, O. , Chinonye, O. , Chiagozie, N. , Hope, I. and Victor, D. (2024) The Burden of Undiagnosed Hypertension and Associated Risk Factors among Adults in a Rural Community in Imo Sate, South-East Nigeria. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 15, 101-122. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2024.152007.