Prevalence and Assessment of Knowledge and Practice Towards Hypertension among Bahir Dar City Communities, 2016: A Community Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Hypertension is a silent killer cardiovascular disease and is becoming a concerned public health challenges particularly in developing countries up to date. The global prevalence of raised blood pressure in adults aged 18 years and over was around 22% in 2014, and the number of people living with hypertension predicted as 1.56 billion at 2025, increasing by 60%. This study aimed to determine proportion of people with hypertension, and to assess knowledge and practice towards hypertension among Bahir Dar city Administration communities. A community based cross-sectional study conducted on April, 2016 among Bahir Dar city administration communities with age greater than or equal to 20 years old. A multi-stage sampling technique used to select 388 study participants. The data were collected after oral informed consent secured for all study participants. Chi square test done to see whether there is an association between the predictor and outcome variable. The prevalence rate of hypertension was 16.45%. The percentage of knowledge and practice score for respondent’s with poor score level was 71.8% and 84.3% respectively. Socio-demographic characteristics: education, occupation and health information concerning for hypertension associated with level of knowledge and practice toward hypertension. Two hundred seventy-five (71.8%) and 323 (84.3%) of the respondents had poor knowledge and poor practice towards hypertension. As part of prevention programme, health education towards hypertension shall be planned and incorporated by Federal Ministry of Health along with other health topics provided by health extension workers and broadcasting Medias should focus towards cardiovascular and non-communicable diseases like hypertension.