Hypertension, structural heart changes and associated factors among police officers in Dar-Es-Salaam barracks, a cross-sectional observational study in firearms East Africa Tanzania

Abstract

Background: Hypertension affects about one billion people globally (26% of adults). Uncontrolled hypertension leads to target organs  damage and contributes to 7.1 million premature deaths worldwide. The study aimed to determine the burden of hypertension;  structural heart disease/ associated factors among Police Officers.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Dar es  Salaam among 360 police officers from six police stations. The participants gave their consent for the study. Demographic, clinical, and  2D M-mode echocardiographic information was collected through structured questionnaires. The data was analysed using the Statistical  Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Regression analyses were also performed, and statistical significance was considered at  a p-value of ≤ 0.05.

Results: Out of 360 participants, 262 (73%) were males and 114 (31%) were middle-aged. Police prevalence of  hypertension was 209 (58%.). Diabetes Mellitus was documented in 19 (5.4%) while overweight/obesity in 124 (34.7%). Structural heart  changes were observed in 51 (66.2%) of those who had echocardiography. Structural heart disease was statistically significantly associated with higher systolic blood pressure (p-value <0.001), diastolic blood pressure (p-value<0.001), and diabetes mellitus (p- value=0.044) in a multivariate analysis.

Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of hypertension and hypertensive heart (58%) disease  among the police officers studied. Hypertensive heart disease was statistically significantly associated with hypertension and diabetes   mellitus.