Blood Pressure And Its Associated Risk Factors Among Staff At Uasin Gishu Level 5 Hospital, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

High blood pressure continues to be a global public health issue and attention needs to be given to primary preventive measures especially among health practitioners who are a channel to the entire population. Modifiable risk factors for hypertension include overweight and obesity, low consumption of fruits/vegetables, physical inactivity, occupational stress, smoking and excess alcohol consumption. The prevalence of hypertension among health workers in other countries outside and within Africa ranges between 10%-33% while Kenya is between 18.4-32.6% among various community populations but there is no specific data on the prevalence of hypertension among health workers in Uasin Gishu County. This study aimed at determining blood pressure and its associated risk factors among staff at Uasin Gishu level 5 Hospital, Uasin-Gishu County. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on a convenient sample of 136 respondents at Uasin Gishu hospital since it is the largest hospital in Uasin Gishu County. Pretested and validated tools were used. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics and behavioural factors. 24-hour dietary recall and dietary diversity score were used to collect data on dietary practices. Data on physical activity levels of respondents was collected using the Global physical activity questionnaire. Anthropometric parameters namely weight, height and waist hip ratio were used to determine the nutritional status which was described using World Health Organization classification on Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist hip ratio (WHR). 24hr dietary recall data were analyzed using Nutri-survey. Demographic and socio-economic factors, behavioural factors, occupational stress, dietary practices, nutritional status and physical activity level were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship between variables, chisquare for the association. A p-value of