Clinical Presentation in Hypertension; an Observational Comparative Study to Determine Features in Male and Female Patients

Neeta Maheshwary
2017 Palliative Medicine & Care Open Access  
Hypertension is regarded as an important public health challenge worldwide. It is the most important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and renal disease and has been identified as the leading global risk factor for mortality and as the third leading risk factor for disease burden. Objective: To identify and compare the signs and symptoms of hypertension among males and females in a Pakistani population. Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study was carried out among
more » ... atients with self-reported history of hypertension. A total of 160 patients aged 18 or above were included in the study by using convenient sampling. Each patient's demographic profile and the history of hypertension associated medical conditions were recorded through interview. Blood pressure was measured with the help of Sphygmomanometer using Stethoscope. The total study duration was 6 months. Results: A higher percentage of females had both systolic and diastolic hypertension than males (85.0% vs. 80.0% and 82.5% vs. 76.3% respectively).The site of headache had positive correlation with both systolic and diastolic blood pressures in males (p=0.04 and p=0.007 respectively) as well as females (p<0.001 for both). Both the severity of headache and severity of dyspnea were positively correlated with diastolic blood pressure in males (p=0.006 and p=0.018 respectively) whereas the type of vision problem was negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure in females (p=0.021).Among males the clinical history of headache (p=0.018), vertigo (p=0.016) and dyspnea (p=0.004) were significantly associated with systolic blood pressure whereas among females only age (p=0.048) was significantly associated with diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion: The symptoms significantly associated with systolic or diastolic hypertension included age, clinical history of headache, its site and severity, vertigo, dyspnea and its severity and type of vision problem although a disparity was found among both genders.
doi:10.15226/2374-8362/4/3/00143 fatcat:geihsx6gmfh2tfq7ajcbj77l6q