Relationship between Knowledge of Hypertension and 10-Year Cardiovascular Risk among Patients with Hypertension at a Primary Care Clinic in Nigeria.

Background:Good knowledge of the risk factors, course and consequences of high blood pressure by patients with hypertension can influence their lifestyle, drug adherence and the risk of subsequent development of cardiovascular disease. We aimed at determining the relationship between the knowledge of hypertension and 10-year cardiovascular risk among patients with hypertension. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional survey of 345 hypertensive patients attending the general outpatient clinic of the University College Hospital. Knowledge of hypertension and 10-year cardiovascular risk were estimated using hypertension fact questionnaire and Framingham General cardiovascular risk score respectively. Chi-square and t-test statistics were used for bivariate analysis with a p-value set at 0.05. Results: The age range of the respondents was 35-82 years. Coexistence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as physical inactivity, diabetes mellitus and obesity were found in 66.1%, 35.4 % and 71.3% participants respectively. Less than half (44.3%) of the participants had adequate knowledge about hypertension. There was a significant association between hypertension knowledge and 10-year cardiovascular risk (χ2= 14.70, p=.001). Also, a significant difference was found in the mean of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, hypertension knowledge score, total cardiovascular risk and physical activity between respondents with adequate and inadequate hypertension knowledge. Conclusion: Given the high inadequate hypertension knowledge and its significant association with 10-year cardiovascular risk. Comprehensive health education on hypertension and its complications should be given to patients to promote their cardiovascular health

Perceived family support and its effect on cardiovascular disease risk among hypertensive patients presenting at a family medicine practice in south west nigeria

Background: Lifestyle modification and health care behaviour are influenced by the support of family members. Family support is asocioeconomic factor that affects many chronic medical illnesses' outcome. It influences medication adherence, blood pressure control and could affect the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.The aim of this study is to assess the level of family support and determine the relationship between family support and cardiovasculardisease risk in patients with hypertension.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 345 hypertensive patients ages 30 years and above using simple randomtechnique. Data were collected with an interviewer-administered questionnaire, physical examination and blood investigation.Perceived family support and cardiovascular disease risk were assessed with Perceived Social Support Family Scale and FraminghamGeneral cardiovascular risk score respectively. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: Majority (75.5%) of the respondents was females, 40.3% were elderly and 71.7% were married. Most of the respondents (93.3%) had strong perceived family support while 1.7% and 4.7% had no and weak perceived family support respectively. Blood pressure was controlled in 58.6% of the respondents and 30.7% had low cardiovascular disease risk. Strong perceived family supportwas associated with being currently married. There was no association found between blood pressure control, cardiovascular diseaserisk and perceived family support.Conclusions: The proportion of hypertensive patients with strong perceived family support is high in this practice setting. However,there was no association found between perceived family support and cardiovascular disease risk. Keywords: Hypertension, perceived family support, blood pressure control, cardiovascular disease risk, family medicine practic

Comparative evaluation of carcass composition of FUNAAB Alpha broiler with two exotic broiler breeds

The contribution of local chickens to meat supply in Nigeria is considered appreciable even though they have been poorly exploited. Thus, this study was conducted to compare the carcass performance of FUNAAB Alpha broilers to Arbor Acre and Cobb 500 breeds. A total of 50 FUNAAB Alpha, 50 Arbor Acre and 50 Cobb broilers were reared for a period of 8weeks. Data collected were in percentage to the total dressed weight and Arcsine transformed to be used as absolute data Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The Cobb 500 breed had the highest value for bled, de-feathered and eviscerated weight (1621.64±93.14g, 1533.14±93.37g and 1254.71±80.19g respectively) followed by the Arbor Acre and FUNAAB Alpha breed. However, the FUNAAB Alpha broiler strain had the highest percentage of heart weight (3.12±0.30), empty gizzard weight (2.34±0.10), liver weight (2.45±0.10), thigh weight (11.21±0.21) and the neck weight (5.45±0.09) while Cobb 500 and Arbor Acre broilers showed higher percentage for wing weight (9.73±0.12), leg weight (4.64±0.12) and drum stick weight (10.78±0.13). The study concludes that the FUNAAB Alpha broilers have good potentials for meat production and could serve as an additional source of animal protein for the rural poor in Nigeria