Prevalence and associated factors of uncontrolled hypertension in hypertensive patients in the city of Goma, DRC

Abstract

Background: The objectives of this study were to determine the proportion of uncontrolled hypertension in hypertensive patients followed up on an outpatient basis and to investigate the factors associated with this poor control. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study of 167 hypertensive patients followed in eight health facilities in Goma city. Uncontrolled hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mmHg. Results: The proportion of uncontrolled hypertension was 95.2%. In bivariate analysis, no factor was associated with uncontrolled hypertension. Conclusion: Almost all hypertensive patients in our study were poorly controlled by antihypertensive treatment. These results highlight the need for a cohort study to determine the factors associated with this excessively high prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension in hypertensive patients on antihypertensive drugs, in order to allow targeted actions to try to control hypertension by antihypertensive drugs.