PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION AND ITS LEVEL OF CONTROL IN PATIENTS ON CHRONIC HEMODIALYSIS FROM MAY TO JULY 2019 AT SPHMMC HEMODIALYSIS UNIT: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Abstract Background: Hypertension is very prevalent in patients undergoing dialysis therapy. As is for general population, it is one of the major causes of cardiovascular disease associated mortality for those who take dialysis. Yet, it is still challenging to diagnose and treat hypertension in patients on dialysis owing to the many unsolved problems and concerns mainly due to few good quality clinical trials. Thus far, there is no data showing prevalence of hypertension and the control in patients on chronic hemodialysis in Ethiopia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to assess the prevalence and control of hypertension in patents on maintenance hemodialysis for chronic kidney disease at St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College dialysis unit from May to July 2019. Data was collected by trained data collector using a standardized questionnaire. The data was analyzed using SPSS computer software version 25. Frequencies and proportions were used to describe the data and Pearson correlation to analyze the numerical variables. Result: Sixty four patients on hemodialysis were studied. This included 42 (65.6%) men & 22 (34.4%) women. Mean age of the patients was 40.69±14.44 yrs. Majority 53(82.8%), of patients were on dialysis for more than 1 year. Duration of each dialysis session for all patients was 4 hours and 50(78.1%) of the patients had three sessions per week. Hypertension (defined as intradialytic median systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg, or prior history of hypertension) was prevalent in 75% of the patients undergoing hemodialysis and significantly associated with presence of edema (P value 0.002). Although 60.9% of the patients were taking antihypertensive, hypertension was controlled adequately in only 37.4%. Conclusion: Hypertension is a common disease among patients on chronic hemodialysis at St. Paul Hospital millennium medical college dialysis unit but it is found to be inadequately controlled in the majority of the patients. Large-scale study using a standard diagnostic method is needed to further explore the magnitude of the problem.