Key result
Hypertension affects ~8% of Palestinian healthcare workers and is linked to modifiable risk factors.
Why the study?
Hypertension is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases globally, prompting an evaluation of its prevalence and associated factors among healthcare workers in governmental hospitals and primary healthcare centres in the Gaza Strip.
Cross-Sectional (n=1,850)
Yes
The prevalence of hypertension among healthcare workers in the Gaza Strip is 8.4%, highlighting the need for healthy lifestyle interventions to address modifiable risk factors like BMI, smoking, and physical activity.
May inform workplace wellness programs in Palestine; leaves open causal confirmation via longitudinal studies.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hypertension (HTN) is one of the leading risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and accounts for substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of HTN and its associated factors among healthcare workers (HCWs) at the Gaza Strip's governmental hospitals and primary healthcare centres (PHCs). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTINGS, PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The study with multistage stratified random sampling was conducted in 10 hospitals and 15 PHCs of the Ministry of Health in Palestine from February to May 2020. Self-administered face-to-face interview questionnaires were used to collect information on sociodemographics, lifestyles, health profiles and health-related risk factors. The anthropometric parameters were measured, including height, weight, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. HTN was diagnosed by taking any antihypertensive medication, or the mean blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg. The SPSS V.26.0 software was used for data analyses. RESULTS: A total of 1850 participants, with a mean (SD) age of 36.6 (7.9) years, including 12.2% physicians, 65.3% nurses, 18.1% paramedics and 4.4% non-medical personnel, were included in this study. The prevalence of HTN among HCWs was 8.4%. The associated modifiable factors of HTN were body mass index (BMI), smoking, coffee intake and physical activity (p<0.05). The anthropometric parameters were considerably higher in HTN than in non-HTN (p<0.05). In adjusted models, age, BMI, WC, HC, type of work, workplace, working experience, smoking, coffee intake, physical activity and family history of HTN showed statistically significant associations with HTN (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The modifiable factors, including smoking, coffee intake, physical activity and BMI, were associated with the risk of HTN. These findings indicate that effective efforts in maintaining a healthy lifestyle are needed to prevent HTN among HCWs.
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Younis et al. (2024) conducted a cross-sectional in Hypertension (n=1,850). Healthcare workers in Palestine had an 8.4% prevalence of hypertension, which was significantly associated with modifiable risk factors including BMI, smoking, coffee intake, and physical activity.
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