Measuring central percentiles of blood pressure levels among adults in Pakistan: A case study of Rawalpindi

Abstract

The prevalence pattern of hypertension (HTN) in developing countries is different from that in the developed countries. In Pakistan, the percentage of hypertensive patients has been growing since last two decades. Various factors might have contributed to this rising trend like, age, body mass index (BMI), lack of physical activity, family history of HTN and smoking etc. In this study, we examine prevalence of HTN in Rawalpindi district of Pakistan using the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC 8) criteria, with the aim to measure central percentiles of blood pressure (BP) depending on different stated factors. For this purpose, quantile regression is used. A cross-sectional study including 2000 volunteer adults was designed. The data were obtained about systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), gender, age, weight height, family history of HTN, physical activity, presence of any kidney disease and diabetic status etc. Quantile regression was used to estimate the central percentiles of SBP and DBP. The present study concludes that the central percentiles of BP reflect alarming situation as half of the adults fall into either pre-hypertensive or hypertensive category and thus, some special awareness program about HTN should frequently be organized.