THE PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION IN RURAL AND URBAN CAMEROON

Background The quickening pace of change and adoption of western lifes tyles by people in developing countries has led to a sharp rise in the incidence of hypertension. Yet epidemiological studies using validate d methods are rare especially in Central Africa. Methods The prevalenc e of hypertension, according to the World Health Organization definiti on (systolic blood pressure [SBP] greater than or equal to 160, diasto lic [DBP] greater than or equal to 95 mmHg), was estimated by a popula tion-based survey in 1798 Cameroonian subjects aged 25-74 years. There were 746 individuals from a rural area (308 men, 438 women) and 1052 (461 men, 591 women) from an urban area. Results The response rate was 95% and 91% for the rural and urban populations respectively. The age -standardized prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher in t he urban than in the rural area. It was 16.4% (95% CI: 11.6-21.2) in u rban men and 12.1% (95% CI:7.9-16.2) in urban women, while it was 5.4% (95% CI:2.9-8.0) in rural men and 5.9% (95% CI:3.8-8.0) in women. Bor derline hypertension (SBP 140-160, DBP 90-95 mmHg) was detected in 7.4 % (95% CI:4.4-10.4) and 6.6% (3.1-10.2) of urban, and 7.3% (95% CI:4.7 -9.9) and 2.9% (95% CI: 1.5-4.4) of rural men and women respectively C onclusions These results indicate that hypertension is still uncommon in rural Cameroon but occurs frequently in the urban community, reachi ng a proportion comparable with industrialized urban communities.