Comparison of blood pressure levels across the spectrum of hypertension related signs and symptoms in out patients.

Abstract

Objectives: To compare the blood pressure levels across the categories of hypertension related signs and symptoms among outpatients aged up to 45 years. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Sindh Government Urban Health Centre Karachi. Period: July 2017 to February 2018. Material & Methods: A cross-sectional survey was organized in the outpatient department of a secondary care hospital of Karachi. Patients aged up to 45 years with self-reported history of hypertension and taking anti-hypertensive medication were included in the study. All patient related data was recorded by interviewing using the study questionnaire whereas the blood pressure levels were measured through a sphygmomanometer with stethoscope. Data were analyzed on SPSS version 20. Results: The study results showed that systolic blood pressure level was significantly different across categories of headache history (p=0.045), sleep apnea (p=0.043) and palpitation (p=0.03) where for headache history patients without whereas for sleep apnea and palpitation patients with these signs and symptoms had higher mean rank of systolic blood pressure levels. Moreover, the diastolic blood pressure level was not significantly different across categories of any of the sign and symptom of hypertension. Conclusion: Blood pressure levels were found to be significantly different across categories of a number of clinical manifestations of hypertension. Moreover, the observed differences differed among patients with different durations of hypertension.