Prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension among staff of a tertiary institution in Enugu State, Nigeria

Hypertension is the most important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and a high proportion of hypertension in Nigeria remains undiagnosed. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension among the staff of Enugu State University College of Medicine. About 86% (140 of 163) of the staff of the College of Basic and Clinical Medical Sciences, Enugu State University College of Medicine, Enugu, Nigeria, that met the inclusion criteria participated in the study. The blood pressure, weight, and height of consenting staff members were measured. A systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg according to the guidelines from the American Heart Association, were classified as hypertension. The weight and height measurements were used to calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI) of the participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the socio-demographic characteristics. The prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension was 21.4%. Almost half of the participants were pre-hypertensive (48.6%). On bivariate analysis, no socio-demographic characteristic significantly affected the prevalence of hypertension among the participants, but there was an inverse relationship between educational level and prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension. The study showed that there was a high prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension among the staff of Enugu State University College of Medicine. With the above result, there is an urgent need to create awareness and implement measures for early diagnosis of hypertension.