Exploratory study of hypertension among Ghanaian adolescent/youth: Phase A; Real world experience (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Hypertension (HTN) remains a global risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, with an estimated 442 million to 874 million SBP of ≥ 140 mmHg from 1990 to 2015 correspondingly. HTN prevalence ranges from 25% to 48% in Ghana. There is limited studies on HTN and youth in Ghana, particularly, none has been conducted on the adolescents/youth at the Senior High School level, and therefore this paper seeks to provide literature to fill this vacuum. OBJECTIVE To assess the current prevalence of HTN and pre HTN of the youth of Ghana, estimate the future prevalence and propose possible interventions METHODS A three-phase community based cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants were selected using a multi staged random method. Questionnaires were distributed to participants to collect data on socio-demographics, while a face to face blood pressure screening was also performed on them. RESULTS A total participant of 372 finished the screening and formed the final analysis Majority of the participants were aged between 15- 17 and above 18 years (176/47.3% with CI: 95: 42.2-52.3 and 178/47.8% with CI: 95: 43.4-53.0 respectively), at the SHS level of education and youthful. The study found low level of knowledge within its participants. A little more than thirty percent (30.1%) were pre-hypertensive, 5.1% with stage one HTN and .6% with stage two HTN. There were positive associations between Weight, Hip circumference for male, metabolic syndrome and type of foods regularly eaten by the participants with hypertension CONCLUSIONS The future workforces of Ghana who are at the Senior High School (SHS) level are at a probable risk to early HTN. Increasing education at this stage within the curricular of the education system in Ghana may be a step forward