PREDICTORS OF HYPERTENSION AMONG LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS IN KOTA DAMANSARA, MALAYSIA

Abstract

Introduction: Non-communicable diseases have become a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing and developed countries in recent years. This is as a result of demographic ageing, urbanisation and adoption of unhealthy lifestyles. Hypertension is accountable for about half of the heart disease and stroke cases. It is also one of the most important causes of premature deaths across the world. Knowledge on its predictors could be highly influential on preventive measures. Predictive models would be helpful in identifying high risk groups and developing more efficient health care interventions. With this background, a study was conducted among low income households to determine the predictors of hypertension among the adult population residing in the community housing project at Kota Damansara in Peninsular Malaysia. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 207 adult individuals of PPR Kota Damansara. Study instruments used were Omron sphygmomanometer, weighing scale, measuring tape and modified version of the WHO Stepwise questionnaire. Univariate analysis was conducted by using the chi-square test. Multivariate analysis was conducted by using the binary logistic regression. In this study, p-value <0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Prevalence of hypertension among the study population was 33.8% (27.7 – 40.4). Age, diabetes, level of education, obesity, history of heart attack or stroke, high cholesterol level and family history of hypertension were found to be significantly associated with hypertension in the univariate analysis. However, the predictors of iii hypertension identified in this study from the multivariate analysis were age, level of education, obesity, diabetes and family history of hypertension. The prediction model had ability for discrimination of 0.821 with an overall performance of 73.9%. Conclusion The prevalence of hypertension in this study population was found to be considerably high. Identification of predictors of hypertension provided an insight for the strategic planning of implementation of preventive measures for the target population to reduce the risk of developing hypertension. This study should be replicated in a multi-centric model to confirm the findings. Keywords: Hypertension, Predictors, Multivariate, Model.