Risk Factors of Hypertension and Association with Familial Factors among Patients attending a State Hospital in South-Western Nigeria

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the determinants of hypertension and its association with familiar factors among patients attending a specialist hospital in Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 350 patients recruited from the general outpatient clinic of the hospital with computer-generated simple random sampling techniques. Data were analysed by SPSS version 23. Correlation analysis and chi-square tests were used to determine the association of relevant variables. Poisson regression was used to assess the predictors of the number of days of physical activities per week. Linear regression and logistic regressions were done to determine the determinants of hypertension. Results: Three hundred and fifty respondents were interviewed and the mean age of the respondents was 44.59(SD+_15.84) years. After adjusting for other variables, the predictors of the number of days of physical activities per week were the level of education and age. Subjects who were 34 years or less were about 1.4 times more likely to do physical activities than the subjects who were 55 years and above (OR=0.725; 95%CI= 0.600– 0.875). For every 1 unit increase in the degree of salt intake, there was a statistically significant increase in diastolic blood pressure by about 1.189 units (95% C.I equals 0.011 to 2.390, p-value= 0.006). In addition to salt intake, other predictors of diastolic blood pressure were family history, marital status, and family setting. Those who belonged to polygamous settings were about 1.9 times more likely to develop hypertension than those who belonged to monogamous settings (OR=1.878; 95%CI=1.138-3.10). After adjusting for other variables, the predictors of systolic blood pressure were family history, family settings, and marital status. Those with positive family history were about 2.6 times more likely to have systolic hypertension than those without (OR=0.387; 95%CI= 0.150 – 0.999). Conclusion: The determinants of hypertension in this study were marital status, family setting, family history of hypertension, and the degree of salt intake. Further genetic studies on the aetiology of hypertension might unravel more information on its causes