Assessing the Primary Causes of Hypertension in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Hypertension also called a silent killer is a serious problem. The numbers of hypertensive patients are increasing day by day. The present study aim to assess the primary causes of hypertension in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Data for the study were collected from 298 hypertensive patients who were admitted or visited to Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar as patients. Simple random sampling method was used for selection of the sampled respondents. The results indicate a significant association between hypertension and the level of education (P=.000). Educated people were found not only having more information about hypertension but also found more conscious about the disease (P=.000), while no or low level of educated patients were reported not only caring (P.000) the hypertension but also were not consulting doctors (P=.000). Sampled hypertensive patients were also agreed that regular use of antihypertensive medicines (P=.000), easy supply of medicines (P=.001), regular exercise (P=.000) and regular check-up of blood pressure (P.000) can help maintain blood pressure in normal range while irregularity in taking of medicines (P=.000) and sedentary life style (P=.000) contributed to high blood pressure. Dietary habits (P=.005) such as junk food (P=.000) and spicy diet (P.000) reported affected the blood pressure. Regarding precautions significant association was found with life style modification (P=.000), regular check-up of blood pressure (P=.000), regular exercise (P=.036), weight reduction (P=.001), avoid alcohol consumption (P=.000), stopped smoking (P=.000) and avoid stress (P=.002) along with more use of vegetables and fruits (P=.001). On the other hand hypertension was also associated significantly with the people who have obesity (P=.004), lake of exercise P=.000), old people (P=.034), low socio-economic status (P=.000), kidney diseases (P=.000), endocrine diseases (P=.000), excessive salt intake (P=.008), low potassium intake (P=.010) and family history (P=.001). Individually and psychologically the hypertension can also be due to alcohol intake (P=.000), cigarette smoking (P=.000), sedentary life style (P=.000), lake of exercise (P=.000), lake of knowledge about the signs, symptoms of hypertension (P=.000), its causes (P=.000), and precautions (P=.000). Study recommends that in order to control hypertension, a special attention is needed to follow the precautions about hypertension, diet plan, regular check-up of blood pressure, awareness about the disease and avoid stress.