HYPERTENSION IN KITUI DISTRICT - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL POPULATIONS

This study was conducted in 1986, with the objective of finding out whether high blood pressure is a problem in the urban and rural populations of Kitui, and the risk factors that may be contributing to the problem. 360 people were visited at home and work places and their blood pressure, were taken in the sitting position under field conditions. A questionnaire on age, sex, marital status, occupation, smoking, miraa chewing and alcohol consumption and the number of people in the household was administered to every study subject, after which their heights and weights were recorded. Prevalence was found to be 6.4%. There was no difference in the occurrence of hypertension between the urban and rural populations. The relationship between the occurrence of hypertension and other parameters is presented and discussed in this paper.