Epidemiological Profile of Systemic Arterial Hypertension in the Population of Cajazeiras, Paraíba

To evaluate the epidemiology of hypertension inthe city of Cajazeiras, PB. Material and Methods: This wasan analytical, descriptive and cross-sectional study carriedout in the city of Cajazeiras, PB. We randomly selected somedistricts of Cajazeiras. Their blocks were divided into strataand residents of each stratum were visited three consecutivetimes within a two-month interval. We measured subjects’SAH, waist circumference, height and weight, and we applieda questionnaire relating to cardiovascular RF to allparticipants. The chi-square and Fisher exact tests wereused to compare proportions. It was considereda significance level of 5% (p <0.05). Results: This studyincluded a total of 656 participants, of which 68.43% werefemale. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 33.84%,including 8.38% of undiagnosed cases. With regard tothe hypertensive population, 63.06% were female. Of thetotal of hypertensive subjects, 27.02% had not beenpreviously diagnosed. The main RF found were:sedentarism (69.6%), history of hypertension (58.4%),excessive consumption of salt (53.7%), overweight orobesity (52.5%). Conclusion: It was identified a highprevalence of subjects with undiagnosed hypertension in thispopulation (8.38%), mainly corresponding to male youngadults. The low rate of SAH control and high prevalenceof modifiable risk factors in this population should also behighlighted...