Epidemiological Study of High Blood Pressure in Haut-Ogooue Province, Franceville, Gabon

Introduction: Hypertension is now a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Non communicable diseases take precedence over infectious or parasitic diseases, which are the most frequent in the region. Materials and Methods. An epidemiological study retrospective and prospective from october 2013 to october 2015 on high blood pressure was carried out in the Haut-Ogooue province (Gabon), specifically in two main centers: International Center for Medical Research of Franceville and Amissa Bongo Hospital Center. Inclusion criteria were for hypertensive patients with systolic blood pressure (SBP 140 mm Hg) and / or diastolic (DBP 90 mm Hg). Demographic parameters and sociooccupational criteria were recorded for each patient. Result: The results showed that the prevalence was 13.48%. There was no significant difference between the genus (p = 0.37 and odds ratio = 0.88). The most affected age group is [41-60]. Overweight hypertensive patients represented 46.30% of patients compared with 3.76% for normotensive patients. These data confirm the risky character of high blood pressure for cardiovascular disease. In terms of socio-occupational criteria, the most vulnerable are workers, farmers, housekeepers and the unemployed, ie 45% of the patients (p = 0.000 and odds ratio = 0.22). Conclusion: There seems to be an association between high blood pressure and work activities. Smoking and alcoholism have not been identified as a risk factor, but this link has already been demonstrated in several studies.