Selected Cardiometabolic Risk-factor Clusters of Urban Hypertensive Adults in Response to 72-hour ABU Radio Frequency Modulated (F.M.) Call for Free-medical Screening

Abstract

Objective: It sought to determine the prevalence of Cardiometabolic risk factor clusters (CMRFCs) and their association with uncontrolled hypertension among urban hypertensive subjects who responded to a free health screening radio announcement. Methods: This cross-sectional epidemiologic study randomly selected 200 previously diagnosed hypertensive subjects aged ≥ 30 years. CMRFCs included hypertension in addition to obesity, prediabetes/diabetes, smoking and alcohol intake. Independent Student’s t-test determined the difference in numerical variables between sexes. Cardiometabolic risk associations were determined via Binary Logistic Regression analysis. Results: Of the 180 who met inclusion, 72.2% were females with mean age of 50.4±9.3 years. About 1 in every 4 subjects (22.2%) had diabetes of which 62.5% were undiagnosed. Almost 2 of every 5 subjects (38.9%) had prediabetes. Almost half (42.2%) had BMI ≥30 kg/m2 with central obesity identified in 78.3%. The mean SBP was 145.7±18.4 mmHg with DBP of 91.8±12.1 mmHg. Uncontrolled hypertension was found in 90.6% and 73.3% for systolic and diastolic respectively. Most (71.7%) had >1 CMRFC associated with uncontrolled systolic hypertension while almost half (42.2%) had same associated with uncontrolled diastolic hypertension. The overall mean prevalence of CMRFC was 49.6%. Significant association was found between male sex (p=0.01) and systolic/diastolic hypertension; prediabetes/diabetes (p=0.01), overweight/obesity (p=0.04) with diastolic hypertension and alcohol intake (p=0.02) with systolic hypertension. Conclusion: This study shows that there is a high prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factor clusters amongst hypertensive urban-dwellers in Northern-Nigeria. Combined overweight/obesity, prediabetes/diabetes, male sex and alcohol were significantly associated with uncontrolled hypertension.