High Blood Pressure-Associated Symptoms: Insights From a Population-Based Study in Pakistan

TL;DR

This study in Pakistan found that over 65% of patients had high blood pressure, with some symptoms more common in those with hypertension.

Contribution

The study provides population-based insights into hypertension symptoms in Pakistan, challenging local myths.

Findings

Vision problems, sleep apnea, and abnormal heartbeat were significantly more common in hypertensive individuals.

Over 65% of the study population was found to have high blood pressure.

Headache, vertigo, edema, and epistaxis were more frequent in hypertensive individuals but not statistically significant.

Abstract

Background

All over the world, millions die of hypertension (HTN) every year. Given the influence of healthcare expenses, HTN represents a serious public health issue in developed and developing countries. HTN is common in Pakistan; however, there are several myths about the symptoms of raised blood pressure that need to be identified.

Objective

The objective of this study is to compare the frequency of high blood pressure-associated symptoms in normotensive and hypertensive adult populations in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methodology

A community-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 277 patients aged 18 years and above who were attending the OPD of different community health centers in Karachi, with and without HTN. Ethical approval was obtained, and data were collected using a convenient sampling technique on a predesigned questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0 (Released 2011; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Results

Out of the total study population, 88 (31.65%) were normotensive, and 189 (67.98%) were hypertensive. In the hypertensive group, approximately 100 (52.9%) were men and 89 (47.1%) were women. The mean ages of normotensives and hypertensives were 44.13 + 11.0 and 49.2 + 13.1 years, respectively. Mean age, heart rate, and smoking status were significantly different between the two groups. Among several perceived blood pressure symptoms like vision problems, sleep apnea, and abnormal heartbeat was significantly higher in the hypertensive group. Conversely, although headache, vertigo, edema, and epistaxis were more frequent in the hypertensive group, the difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

In our study, >65% of patients visiting OPD had high blood pressure. Several symptoms were found to be more prevalent in hypertensive individuals compared with non-hypertensive ones. More large-scale studies are recommended to further explore the common symptoms associated with HTN in our population.