Risk Factors for Hypertension among Patients Aged 18- 35 Years Attending Tenwek Mission Hospital, Bomet County, Kenya

Abstract

Hypertension ranks third in the world, after underweight and unsafe sex, in the list of six major risk factors contributing to the global disease. It has shown to be a leading risk to cardiovascular disease and stroke. In Kenya, the prevalence stands at 24% in the general population, while among the young adults, the incidence of hypertension was reported to be in the rise; a fact attributed to increased number of mortalities arising from hypertension. The objective of this study was to determine the risk factors of hypertension among young adults aged 18-35 years attending Tenwek Mission Hospital. Study adopted hospital-based-control design with a sample size of n=160 young adults aged 18-35 years, involving 80 cases and 80 controls at Tenwek Mission Hospital, Bomet County, Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to select the cases whereas the controls were selected using simple random sampling after they had received their medication. Semi-structured interviewer administered patient questionnaire was used during data collection. Data collected were entered into MS excel then later transferred to STATA version 14.1 for cleaning and analysis. Level of awareness on knowledge about signs and symptoms was found to be below 36%. Awareness on how to reduce risk of hypertension was also found to be below 21% among the respondents. Multivariable logistic regression was fitted to find out factors associated with hypertension, where all covariates with p-value ≤ 0.1 were included in the adjusted model. All estimates and comparisons of the results were done at 5% level of significance. Descriptive statistics indicated that majority of the respondents were females {n=100 (62.5%)}. A half, that is 80 (50.0%) of the respondents were from the age group of 30-35 years. On the education level, 97 (60.6%) of the respondents were above secondary level. More than half, 113 (70.6%) of the respondents were married. Based on the occupation, 89 (55.6%) of the respondents were salaried. Most of the participants were earning Ksh 10,000 and below per month {n=70, (43.8%)}. Rural area was home for many respondents {n=111 (69.4%). One hundred (62.5%) respondents were found to be either overweight or obese. Self, mother and father reported the highest cases of hypertension at 31%, 26% and 24% respectively. In terms of signs and symptoms of hypertension, headache and dizziness were most reported with 36.0 % and 26 % of the respondent. Responses on reduction of salt intake were 21.0% and 20% for cases and controls respectively. On taking regular physical activity, they were 17.0% and 18% for control and cases respondents respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found sex to be statistically significant risk factor of hypertension where females were found to be 2.5 times likely to suffer from hypertension compared to their males counterpart {AOR=2.5, 95%CI [0.48-5.69], p-value=0.034}. Participants aged 30-35 years were found to be 2.9 times likely to suffer from hypertension as compared with other age brackets of the study {AOR=2.9,95% CI [1.01-8.42], p-value=0.047}. Those participants who ate red meat once a week were found to be 5.2 times likely to suffer from hypertension as compared with those who didn’t take the red meat {AOR=5.2, 95% CI [1.39-19.92], p-value=0.014}. Independent risk factors among young adults were; gender, age and red meat consumption. In order to control hypertension in young adults, preventive measures should be self-focus in this group in a manner to address variety of major risk factors in young adults. Government should make available provision on blood pressure check to members of public for early tracking and tracing of young adults with hypertension to plan on a tailored intervention in prevention and control of hypertension.