Correlation between Blood Pressure Levels and Clinical Signs and Symptoms of Hypertensive Patients: A Gender and Age Based Comparison

Abstract

Objective: To determine correlation between  systolic  and  diastolic  blood  pressure  levels  and  selected signs and symptoms among different gender and age groups of hypertensive patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out  at  urban  hospital  after  taking  ethical  approval,  among patients with self-reported history of hypertension and on  anti-hypertensive  medication.  After  taking ethical approval, a total of 372 patients aged 18 or above were included in the study by employing convenient sampling technique. A detailed history was taken from each patient  about  hypertension associated symptoms with the help of a questionnaire  whereas  designed  specifically  for  the study. Blood pressure was measured using sphygmomanometer  with  stethoscope.  SPSS  version  20  was used to analyse the collected data and the duration of study was 6 months. Results: Among males older age, belonging to older age group >40 years, having more  height  and positive history of irregular heartbeat/palpitation were highly correlated with increase in systolic blood pressure (p<0.001 for  all),  among  females,  positive  history  of  sleep  apnoea  was  highly  correlated  with increase in systolic blood pressure  (p<0.001)  and  having  more  height  and  positive  history  of  sleep apnoea were highly correlated with increase  in  diastolic  blood  pressure  (p<0.001  for  both),  among   <40 years old milder change in urinary frequency was highly correlated with increase in systolic blood pressure (p<0.001) whereas among >40 years  old  positive  history  of  headache,  vertigo,  sleep apnoea and irregular heartbeat/palpitation were highly correlated with increase in systolic blood pressure (p<0.001 for all) and having  more  height  was  highly  correlated  with  increase  in  diastolic  blood pressure (p<0.001). Conclusion: Among other signs and symptoms, positive history of irregular  heartbeat/palpitation  was found to be significantly correlated with both high systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels in both  males and females as well as in >40 years old patients.