Journal of Hypertension: Open Access

Ageing is closely associated with the dynamic demographic and socio-economic transformation. In the elderly period hypertension is the problem related with the internal features of the body. The objective of the study was, to find out the prevalence and factors associated with hypertension among elderly population. The descriptive, crosssectional study was carried out in Dhapasi VDC among 318 elderly people selected by systematic random sampling. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review committee of Chitwan Medical College, Chitwan, Nepal. Data were collected through face to face interview technique using semi-structured schedule and analysis was done in SPSS version 16.0. The results unveiled that 56.9% of the elderly people were hypertensive, among them 40.8% of the respondents were diagnosed during the study, 29.6% were diagnosed before the study and 13.5% were diagnosed before and during the study. The prevalence of hypertension among smokers was 63.4%, those who were not involved in regular physical exercise was 63.8%, among those who took fat containing food more than three times in a week were 61.7%, who have disturbed sleep were 62%, who were the patients of diabetes was 90.0% and among those who have other co-morbidities was 38.7%. The prevalence of hypertension was found to be higher among elderly people. So, the study suggests that hypertension should be controlled especially with a focus to elderly population.

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.

Left ventricular hypertrophy is one of the commonest cardiac sign seen in hypertensive patients. According to American Heart Association and Joint National Committee VIII calcium channel blockers are first line drug in treatment of hypertension. Previous meta-analysis shows Calcium channel blocker can reduce left ventricular hypertrophy by 9-11%. The study was undertaken to evaluate and compare the efficacy of Amlodipine and Cilnidipine on Left ventricular hypertrophy and Systolic function. Total 48 patients were selected and enrolled as study participants. The patients were then divided as (1) Hypertensive group (n=22) and (2) Diabetic hypertensive group (n=26) - selected patients received either Amlodipine (2.5 to 10 mg) or cilnidipine (5 to 20 mg) with or without Angiotensin receptor blockade along with antidiabetic medication. Echocardiography report done to all selected patients at baseline and 12 months. Amlodipine and Cilnidipine, both can reduce left ventricular mass, left ventricular mass index, and relative wall thickness with statistical significance but without any clinical relevance when compared with the baseline. The total mean reduction in percentage of above parameters was more with Cilnidipine treated arm than Amlodipine. Both drugs have no effect on cardiac systolic function i.e., ejection fraction and endocardial fractional shortening. From this study it can be concluded that Cilnidipine is better in reducing left ventricular hypertrophy than Amlodipine in hypertensive patients without any deleterious action on systolic function.