Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian women

Background: High blood pressure is on the rise globally, affecting more women than men in many developing countries. It is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, and hospitalization in sub-Saharan Africa. Many known risk factors to hypertension, though prevalent in Nigeria, are controllable. Prev...

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Main Authors: Samuel O. Azubuike, Rahab Kurmi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2014-01-01
Series:Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.amhsjournal.org/article.asp?issn=2321-4848;year=2014;volume=2;issue=1;spage=23;epage=28;aulast=Azubuike
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spelling doaj-309c183d62dc4adb863675197cfe215d2020-11-24T21:02:59ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsArchives of Medicine and Health Sciences2321-48482014-01-0121232810.4103/2321-4848.133791Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian womenSamuel O. AzubuikeRahab KurmiBackground: High blood pressure is on the rise globally, affecting more women than men in many developing countries. It is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, and hospitalization in sub-Saharan Africa. Many known risk factors to hypertension, though prevalent in Nigeria, are controllable. Prevention, however, is difficult where there is poor awareness, attitude, and practices. Objectives: The study aims at determining the level of knowledge of hypertension and its associated factors, attitudes, practices, and prevalence among rural Nigerian women. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional design was used to study 252 subjects in Sanga Local Government Area. Subject selection was by purposive and stratified sampling techniques. Data were collected using self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire after informed consents were obtained both verbally and in writing. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical package. Level of significant was taken at 0.05. Results: Prevalence of hypertension was 24.2%. Average level of risk factor awareness was 65.4% with excessive salt intake (77.4%) being the most recognized. Asymptomatic nature of hypertension was recognized by 61.5% of the respondents, while 44.4% only knew the standard method for hypertension detection. While 17.5% strongly believed that hypertension can be managed effectively with drugs, it was only 9.1% that strongly disagreed that it could be caused by evil spirits. The average number of those with good preventive life style practices was 61.3%. Knowledge was associated with several factors and seems to affect practices (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Fair but inadequate level of knowledge and attitudes affected by several factors, as well as moderately high prevalence was recorded.http://www.amhsjournal.org/article.asp?issn=2321-4848;year=2014;volume=2;issue=1;spage=23;epage=28;aulast=AzubuikeAwarenesshypertensionpracticeprevalencewomen
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Samuel O. Azubuike
Rahab Kurmi
spellingShingle Samuel O. Azubuike
Rahab Kurmi
Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian women
Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences
Awareness
hypertension
practice
prevalence
women
author_facet Samuel O. Azubuike
Rahab Kurmi
author_sort Samuel O. Azubuike
title Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian women
title_short Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian women
title_full Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian women
title_fullStr Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian women
title_full_unstemmed Awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural Nigerian women
title_sort awareness, practices, and prevalence of hypertension among rural nigerian women
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
series Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences
issn 2321-4848
publishDate 2014-01-01
description Background: High blood pressure is on the rise globally, affecting more women than men in many developing countries. It is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, and hospitalization in sub-Saharan Africa. Many known risk factors to hypertension, though prevalent in Nigeria, are controllable. Prevention, however, is difficult where there is poor awareness, attitude, and practices. Objectives: The study aims at determining the level of knowledge of hypertension and its associated factors, attitudes, practices, and prevalence among rural Nigerian women. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional design was used to study 252 subjects in Sanga Local Government Area. Subject selection was by purposive and stratified sampling techniques. Data were collected using self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire after informed consents were obtained both verbally and in writing. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical package. Level of significant was taken at 0.05. Results: Prevalence of hypertension was 24.2%. Average level of risk factor awareness was 65.4% with excessive salt intake (77.4%) being the most recognized. Asymptomatic nature of hypertension was recognized by 61.5% of the respondents, while 44.4% only knew the standard method for hypertension detection. While 17.5% strongly believed that hypertension can be managed effectively with drugs, it was only 9.1% that strongly disagreed that it could be caused by evil spirits. The average number of those with good preventive life style practices was 61.3%. Knowledge was associated with several factors and seems to affect practices (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Fair but inadequate level of knowledge and attitudes affected by several factors, as well as moderately high prevalence was recorded.
topic Awareness
hypertension
practice
prevalence
women
url http://www.amhsjournal.org/article.asp?issn=2321-4848;year=2014;volume=2;issue=1;spage=23;epage=28;aulast=Azubuike
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