Prevalence of diastolic hypertension among ophthalmic patients in Sagamu, Ogun State

Abstract

Hypertension a common non communicable disease is often symptom less. It is not uncommon to discover it during a routine medical checkup. Many eye surgeries had to be cancelled because of raised blood pressure. This prospective hospital based study was carried out to determine the prevalence of hypertension in patients attending the eye clinic. It was found that prevalence of hypertension was 37.1%, and affects mainly people above 50years. A total of 66.7% of the known hypertensive patients who were on antihypertensive medications still had elevated blood pressure. Hypertensive retinopathy was found in only 12.8% of the hypertensive. We conclude that routine check of the blood pressure should be an integral part of eye examination; this may help in the long term by reducing the morbidity and mortality from this disease.

Nigerian Hospital Practice Vol. 2 (3) 2008: pp. 58-59