The South-East geopolitical zone emerges as the region facing the highest prevalence of hypertension in Nigeria, as highlighted by the Nigerian Hypertension Society (NHS) on Monday.
During the 23rd Annual General Meeting and scientific conference of the NHS in Abuja, Prof Ayodele Omotoso, the President of the society and a Medicine professor at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, disclosed this information.
The conference’s theme, “Tackling the burden of hypertension in Nigeria from primary to tertiary care,” underscored the urgent need to address the substantial challenges posed by hypertension in the country.
Professor Omotoso, who also serves as a Consultant Cardiologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, emphasized the enormity of the hypertension burden in Nigeria, calling for immediate attention to this pressing health issue.
“Nationally, the prevalence is around 30-40 per cent across the board. But when you look at the distribution in the geopolitical zones in the country, we do know that in the South-East, we have about 44 per cent; in North-East, it is about 42 per cent, and in other areas, it is about 25-30 per cent across the various geopolitical zones.
“When you translate that to actual figures using the current population, you will know that the burden runs into millions. Let’s say we have 120 million in the adult range in the 200 million estimated Nigerian population, just look at 30 per cent of that, that is like saying we have about 40 million Nigerians have hypertension.
“If you look at the cost of this disease, not only the cost of treatment, but the cost in terms of days lost to ill health, and complications due to kidney failure, stroke, heart failure, and others, they have economic implications on the country,” Omotoso stated.
Also, a member of the Africa Regional Advisory Group of the International Society of Hypertension, Prof. Solomon Kadiri, said hypertension had become a burden in the past few decades.
Kadiri, who is a nephrologist and the keynote speaker at the conference, said, “The prevalence rate from many studies will be about 35-40 per cent in adults, meaning that one in three adults that you meet will be hypertensive. In 90 per cent of hypertension cases, there is no disease cause as such that could be identified.But there are risk factors like excessive intake of salt, obesity, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption.
“When a patient is diagnosed with hypertension, he should be told what the likely reasons are, even if the patient is taking medications for hypertension, he should be told to cut down on salt intake, lose weight, and become physically active.
“Nigerians need to be aware that hypertension is a problem, and they need to have their high pressure checked. Adults should have their blood pressure checked twice a year, if they have shown to be hypertensive, they should have their blood pressure checked more frequently.”
