May measurement month 2017: Blood pressure screening results from Zambia-Sub-Saharan Africa.
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. Prevalence of hypertension is reported to reach 34% in some areas of Zambia but public awareness is reportedly low. A majority of individuals do not know that they have high BP and others do not take any medication. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2017. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. Measurement sites were set-up at shopping malls, markets, sports facilities, churches, higher institutions of learning, and urban clinics. A total of 9607 individuals were screened during MMM17. After multiple imputation, 2438 (25.9%) had hypertension. Of individuals not receiving anti-hypertensive medication, 1706 (19.6%) were hypertensive. Of individuals receiving anti-hypertensive medication, 438 (62%) had uncontrolled BP. The MMM for 2017 was the largest BP screening campaign undertaken in Zambia. The campaign identified 2438 individuals with hypertension who were given heart health advice and/or referred to the local clinic for treatment. These results suggest that a large BP screening campaign based on convenience sampling could be a useful and reasonably inexpensive tool to help raise awareness in the general population and thereby help address the burden of disease caused by hypertension.
Date Issued
2019-04-24
Date Acceptance
2019-02-15
Citation
European Heart Journal Supplements, 2019, 21 (Suppl D), pp.D130-D132
ISSN
1520-765X
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Start Page
D130
End Page
D132
Journal / Book Title
European Heart Journal Supplements
Volume
21
Issue
Suppl D
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2019.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31043901
PII: suz077
Subjects
Cardiovascular System & Hematology
1102 Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Date Publish Online
2019-04-24