Prevalence and Factors Associated with Hypertension Among Senior High School Students of Saint Thomas Aquinas And Accra High Senior High School

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Many factors contribute to the development of hypertension, which may include nutrition, obesity, lack of exercise, alcohol intake, and tobacco use. The prevalence of hypertension in adolescents far exceeds the number who have been diagnosed. Early diagnosis of hypertension in adolescents will help reduce the prevalence of hypertension and its complications in adulthood. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of hypertension and its associated factors among Senior High School students of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Accra High Senior High Schools Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 266 senior high school students aged between 14- 20 years from Saint Thomas Aquinas Senior High School and Accra High Senior High School were recruited from May – July 2017. A self – administered questionnaire was used to obtain data from the senior high school students. The arterial blood pressure, weight, height, and waist circumference were checked by means of an electronic sphygmomanometer, a mechanical weighing scale with stadiometer and a tailors measuring tape respectively. Data obtained was analysed using Excel 2010 and Stata 14 SE. Results: The mean age of respondents was 16.5 years. The overall prevalence of prehypertension was 42.2% (95% CI: 36.5 – 48.1%) while that of hypertension was 16% (95% CI: 12.1 – 20. 7%).The systolic and diastolic blood pressures were averagely 123.9mmHg and 68.7mmHg respectively. The estimated average Body Mass Index was 20.9 kg/m2 (range: 14.9 - 31.9). Gender was significantly associated with hypertension and the odds of being hypertensive among the male students was more than three times that of females (24.36% vs 5.56%, p=0.001). The average body mass index of hypertensive senior high school students was higher than that of senior high students who had normal blood pressure (24.9 kg\m2 vs 20.8 kg\m2, p = 0.0189). High blood pressure was not associated with smoking, alcohol intake and physical activity. Conclusion: The prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension was high. There was a strong association between hypertension and BMI. A link between hypertension and factors such as alcohol abuse, tobacco use and physical inactivity could not be established which is inconsistent with literature