Prevalence of hypertension and its associated factors among rural adults in a Ghanaian municipality

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, wreaking havoc in both developed and developing countries. Hypertension (HPT) is the leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability-adjusted life years. HPT cases are increasing in the Ejisu Municipality, but there is a lack of accurate information on hypertension and its determinants in the municipality. The purpose of this study was to find out how common hypertension is and what factors contribute to it in rural adults in Ejisu Municipality. This study used a descriptive cross-sectional study design, with a structured questionnaire administered via face-to-face interviews, to residents of fourteen rural communities in the municipality. Simple random sampling was used to select community-level participants for the study. The collected data was entered into Microsoft Excel, cleaned and exported to Stata/SE version 14.0 for analysis. Chi-squared tests were used to determine the relationship between the quantitative and independent variables. The strength of association was determined using multivariable logistic regression analysis. The study showed a prevalence rate of 28.9% hypertension among rural residents. Females (64.89%) were found to be more hypertensive compared to males (35.11%). Risk factors significantly associated with hypertension among the study population were age, family history, and smoking.