Epidemiology of Hypertension Stages in Two Countries in Sub-Sahara Africa: Factors Associated with Hypertension Stages

Table 1

Sociodemographic, health behavior, and biological characteristics (%) of study subjects, by country and hypertension stages.

	Ghana ()					South Africa ()
	Normal	Pre-HTN	Stage 1 HTN	Stage 2 HTN	Total (%)	Normal	Pre-HTN	Stage 1 HTN	Stage 2 HTN	Total (%)
Sociodemographic variables
Age groups (years)
18–49	28.1	32.6	20.5	18.8	762 (76.9)	28.2	31.7	16.2	23.9	334 (79.7)
50–59	20.1	23.2	28.3	28.4	1532 (9.4)	9.1	20.9	24.9	45.1	1242 (11.1)
60–69	18.5	24.7	23.1	33.7	1055 (6.3)	6.9	20.6	28.5	44.1	803 (5.7)
70–74	18.4	26.7	23.9	30.9	837 (5.1)	9.5	15	33.1	42.4	424 (2.5)
80+	19.0	27.6	24.5	29	374 (2.3)	5.8	20.4	29.6	44.2	171 (1.1)
Sex
Male	26.2	29.3	20.7	23.8	2466 (50.2)	16.4	33.9	18.5	31.2	1361 (48.5)
Female	25.9	32.1	22.6	19.4	2099 (49.8)	31.3	25.1	18.4	25.3	1617 (51.5)
Living place
Urban	23.6	30.3	24	22.2	1747 (44.4)	28.3	28.6	18.3	24.9	1890 (69.7)
Rural	28	31.1	19.8	21.1	2818 (55.6)	14.7	31.4	18.2	35.7	1084 (30.3)
Marital status
Married	25.6	28.1	23.8	22.5	1758 (26.6)	28.9	29.1	19.5	22.6	1346 (46.5)
Single	26.3	31.8	20.8	21.1	2782 (73.4)	20	29.4	17.8	32.8	1578 (53.6)
Educational level
No school	21.9	27.6	22.1	28.4	2337 (31.1)	7.7	20.8	22.4	49.1	647 (7.3)
<6 yrs	29.3	30.3	23.5	17	498 (12.8)	5.5	23.4	22.2	48.9	556 (13.9)
Primary	26.4	29.3	24.8	19.6	567 (20.1)	10.4	28.9	22	38.7	557 (13.9)
Secondary	21.8	41.3	21	15.8	244 (10.9)	35.2	26.2	17.4	21.3	391 (27.7)
High school	29.5	32.3	18.2	20.1	737 (20.7)	40.3	19.2	18.4	22.1	221 (29.1)
University	36.8	28.8	18.2	16.3	154 (4.4)	41.7	27.1	11.6	19.6	143 (8.1)
Occupation
Public sector	23.6	34.1	21.8	20.6	380 (7.2)	26.9	30.1	10.7	32.4	395 (19.8)
Private	26.7	20.1	24.1	29.1	180 (5.2)	13.4	32.7	23	31	1421 (53.1
Self-employed	25	32.3	22	20.7	3564 (80.8)	44	31.8	10.5	13.8	106 (4)
Informal	25.2	24.0	15	35.8	332 (6.8)	33.9	16.9	18.9	30.3	592 (23.1)
Income
Quintile 1 (poorest)	33.4	28.3	21.5	16.9	939 (15.6)	20	30	21.2	28.8	640 (19.6)
Quintile 2	33	29	16.9	21.1	932 (18)	28.3	23.6	22.8	25.3	631 (20)
Quintile 3	19.3	31	20.8	28.8	922 (19.4)	27.4	19.6	17.3	35.6	545 (20.2)
Quintile 4	18.8	34.8	24.6	21.8	921 (22.2)	21.1	35.6	13	30.4	551 (19.5)
Quintile 5 (richest)	28.2	29.6	23.2	19.1	845 (24.9)	23.7	37.7	17.7	20.9	595 (20.8)
Biological  variables
BMI (kg/m^2)
Underweight	31	33	14.4	21.5	670 (9.3)	21.1	35.7	8.2	35	130 (3.5)
Normal	30.6	29.4	19.8	20.2	2543 (54.4)	35.9	35.6	12.2	16.4	777 (36.1)
Overweight	21.4	32.8	22.2	23.6	889 (24.2)	32.4	21.2	21.4	25	849 (30)
Obese	10.8	30.4	33.4	25.3	444 (12.1)	5.7	23.2	25.7	45.4	1148 (30.5)
Waist circumference
Normal	27.9	29.9	20.2	22	3608 (76.7)	24.5	32	18.4	25.1	1574 (63.2)
Abnormal	20.2	32.8	26.2	20.9	930 (23.3)	20	25.2	20.8	34	1180 (36.9)
Health related behaviors
Smoking
No	25.9	31.4	22.2	20.5	3416 (84.1)	26.5	32.3	16.9	24.4	1819 (67.6)
Yes	26.2	27.6	18.8	27.5	1143 (15.9)	19.1	23.2	22.2	35.6	1077 (32.4)
Current alcohol use
No	25.9	31.7	20.7	21.7	1181 (44.3)	25.4	21.2	31.2	22.2	347 (33.5)
Yes	28.2	27.2	22.7	22	1492 (55.7)	14.9	27.8	18.5	38.8	489 (66.5)
Work related physical activity
High	25.5	33.5	19.9	21.2	1868 (44.7)	30.7	15.6	27	26.7	306 (12.4)
Moderate	29	28.7	22.5	19.7	1400 (27.5)	33.3	28.1	14.5	24.1	852 (36.3)
Low	23.5	28.5	23.7	24.3	1289 (27.8)	16	33.6	19.3	31.1	1734 (51.4)
Fruit intake/day
0-1	25.7	27.9	23.9	22.5	1726 (32.3)	17.6	24.9	21.1	36.4	1476 (46.3)
2–4	28	31.9	19.8	20.3	2374 (57.8)	29.8	34.2	17.4	18.6	1305 (50.2)
>=5	13.7	32.7	24.7	29	402 (9.9)	37.8	9.2	7	46	79 (3.5)
Vegetable intake/day
0-1	29.9	24.1	24.5	21.5	1112 (24.9)	14.9	24.8	24.4	35.9	1160 (35.7)
2–4	24.1	32.4	21.2	22.3	3269 (74.3)	30.8	32.7	15.3	21.2	1592 (60.6)
>=5	21.8	36.2	29.8	12.2	57 (0.9)	5.4	10.1	21.7	62.9	116 (3.7)
Blood pressure number	957	1205	1108	1295	4565	301	647	738	1294	2980
Weighted prevalence (%)	26.1	30.7	21.6	21.6		24.1	29.4	18.5	28.1

, .
= number of observations in the sample.
All percentages (%) are put as weighted estimates of the sample to represent population.