The prevalence and associated risk factors of hypertension in wad medani banks employees, Gezira state, Sudan 2022

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is one of the highly prevalent worldwide health non-communicable diseases. It is a major cause of cardiovascular disease and deaths worldwide. There is a very high frequency of hypertension in the general population among bank employees, according to studies conducted in various parts of the world. In Sudan including Wad Medani city there is paucity of information on the prevalence of hypertension and its risk factors among bank employees. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of hypertension among bank employees in Wad Medani city, Gezira state, Sudan, 2022.

Method: A cross sectional study was conducted on bank employees from 20 banks in Wad Medani Gezira state 2022. Data was collected by medical students from Wad Medani college of Medical Sciences and Technology using self-administered Questionnaire. Data was analyzed by SPSS version20.

Results: The total number of bank employee in Wad-Medani was187. A 55 (29.4%) of them were hypertensive and were enrolled in the study. 60% were males and 40% were females, 26 % were aged 50-59 years.60% of them were married and 69% of the participants had a positive family history of hypertension, 60% of them were symptomatic and diagnosed by doctors as hypertensive,40% were diagnosed during routine follow up. 70.9% have regular follow up with their physicians and 89.1 received antihypertensive drugs. 67.3% do not exercise .81.8% have the habit of adding salt to diet. 88% were not smoker. 76% think their job is stressful.

Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension was high among bank employees. The associated risk factors of hypertensive were: male sex, old age, positive family history, salty diet intake, job stress and sedentary life style. The study recommended strengthening adoption of certain interventional measures in lifestyle such as reducing salt intake and promoting physical activity among this vulnerable group. The bank managers should advise their employee to check their blood pressure periodically.