Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Hypertensive Egyptians, Data From the Egyptian Specialized Hypertension Clinics

Objective: Data regarding the prevalence and characteristics of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors among Egyptian hypertensive patients are limited. Nationwide Specialized Hypertension Clinics (SHC) were initiated for screening, investigating, and treating hypertensive patients. This study aimed to determine clinical characteristics and CV risk profile of hypertensive Egyptians attending the SHC Design and method: Data of 4701 hypertensive patients presented to the SHC in nine university hospitals covering different geographical areas of Egypt between October 2014 and September 2017 was collected. Data included blood pressure (BP) value, clinical data, socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements and cardiovascular risk profile. Results: The patients mean age was 51.8 ± 11.5years, (58.7%) were older than 50 years and 58.5% were females. The mean office systolic and diastolic BP were (145.2 ± 22.4 and 88.7 ± 12.9 mmHg, respectively). For cardiovascular factors, (58.6%) were obese, (25.1%) were Diabetics and (23.4%) were smoker. Obesity was more prevalent in females than males (65.7% versus 53.0%, p = < 0.001, respectively), while dyslipidemia and smoking were significantly higher in male patients. The highest levels of blood pressures and prevalence of all CV risk factors mainly, obesity (63.3%) and smoking (48.9%) were observed in the Delta region; despite been significantly younger in age. Conclusions: This study revealed high prevalence of modifiable CV risk factors among a cohort of Egyptian hypertensive patients attending SHC. Pattern of risk factors across different geographic regions may be attributed to rapid urbanization. Governmental and community based approaches are needed for better hypertension control and associated CV risk factors.