Comparative Study on Blood Pressure Status of Cigarette Smokers and Non-Smokers in Owerri Municipal of Imo State, Nigeria

Objectives: The work aimed to compare the blood pressure status, knowledge and attitude of cigarette smokers and non-smokers in Owerri Municipal LGA Methodology: A community based; comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 respondents of above 15 years selected by multistage cluster sampling technique. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were done for the participants, together with questionnaire administration. Results: Only 59(26.7%) of non-cigarette smokers and 11(6.1%) of cigarette smokers had a satisfactory knowledge level while and 22(10.0%) of non-cigarette smokers and 24(13.4%) of cigarette smokers had satisfactory attitudes towards blood pressure. The prevalence of hypertension among non-cigarette smokers (22.2%) was higher than that of cigarette smokers (9.5%). The multivariate logistic regression analysis reveals that systolic blood pressure (0.205 to 0.719, 95%CI, b=-0.956, p=0.003, AOR=0.384), body mass index (0.535 to 0.864, 95%CI, b=-0.386, p=0.002, AOR=0.680) and knowledge level (0.098 to 0.392, 95%CI, b=-1.630, p<0.001, AOR=0.196) was found to be a negative predictive variable for the smoking status of the respondents. Conclusion: This study shows that a good number of the participants were not aware of the possible risk factors that could alter the blood pressure status of individual. This finding therefore highlights the urgent need to sensitize people (smokers and non-smokers) on blood pressure and factors that can alter or trigger a person blood pressure.