Public Health
Volume 122, Issue 1 , Pages 19-24 , January 2008

Prehypertension in the Ashanti region of Ghana, West Africa: An opportunity for early prevention of clinical hypertension

  • Charles Agyemang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Social Medicine, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +31205664885; fax: +31206972316.
    • ,
  • Ellis Owusu-Dabo

      Affiliations

    • Department of Community Health, School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Received 22 October 2006 ,Revised 10 April 2007 ,Accepted 25 April 2007.

References 

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  2. Edwards R, Unwin N, Mugusi F, Whiting D, Rashid S, Kissima J, et al. Hypertension prevalence and care in an urban and rural area of Tanzania. J Hypertens. 2000;18:145–152
  3. Burket BA. Blood pressure survey in two communities in the Volta region, Ghana, West Africa. Ethn Dis. 2006;16:292–294
  4. Walker RW, McLarty DG, Kitange HM, Whiting D, Masuki G, Mtasiwa DM, et al. Stroke mortality in urban and rural Tanzania. Adult Morbidity and Mortality Project. Lancet. 2000;355:1684–1687
  5. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, Cushman WC, Green LA, Izzo JL, et al. National High Blood Pressure Education Program Coordinating Committee, Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Hypertension. 2003;42:1206–1252
  6. Qureshi AI, Suri MF, Kirmani JF, Divani AA. Prevalence and trends of prehypertension and hypertension in United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 1976 to 2000. Med Sci Monit. 2005;11:CR403–CR409
  7. Winegarden CR. From “prehypertension” to hypertension? Additional evidence. Ann Epidemiol. 2005;15:720–725
  8. Vasan RS, Larson MG, Leip EP, Kannel WB, Levy D. Assessment of frequency of progression to hypertension in non-hypertensive participants in the Framingham Heart Study: a cohort study. Lancet. 2001;358:1682–1686
  9. Agyemang C. Rural and city differences in blood pressure and hypertension in Ghana, West Africa. Public Health. 2006;120:525–533
  10. Asare K. Ashanti region regional health service annual report 2003. Kumasi 2004.
  11. Agyemang C, Bruijnzeels MA, Owusu-Dabo E. Factors associated with hypertension awareness, treatment, and control in Ghana, West Africa. J Hum Hypertens. 2006;20:67–71
  12. Mainous AG, Everett CJ, Liszka H, King DE, Egan BM. Prehypertension and mortality in a nationally representative cohort. Am J Cardiol. 2004;94:1496–1500
  13. Tsai PS, Ke TL, Huang CJ, Tsai JC, Chen PL, Wang SY, et al. Prevalence and determinants of prehypertension status in the Taiwanese general population. J Hypertens. 2005;23:1355–1360
  14. Okosun IS, Boltri JM, Anochie LK, Chandra KM. Racial/ethnic differences in prehypertension in American adults: population and relative attributable risks of abdominal obesity. J Hum Hypertens. 2004;18:849–855
  15. Choi KM, Park HS, Han JH, Lee JS, Lee J, Ryu OH, et al. Prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension in a Korean population: Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey 2001. J Hypertens. 2006;24:1515–1521
  16. Agyemang C, van Valkengoed I, van den Born JB, Stronks K. Prevalence and determinants of prehypertension among African Surinamese, Hindustani Surinamese and White Dutch in Amsterdam, the Netherlands — The SUNSET study. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 2007, in press.
  17. Wang Y, Wang QJ. The prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension among US adults according to the new joint national committee guidelines: new challenges of the old problem. Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:2126–2134
  18. Biritwum R, Gyapong J, Mensah G. The epidemiology of obesity in Ghana. Ghana Med J. 2005;39:82–85
  19. Agyemang C, Redekop WK, Owusu-Dabo E, Bruijnzeels MA. Blood pressure patterns in rural, semi-urban and urban children in the Ashanti region of Ghana, West Africa. BMC Public Health. 2005;5:114
  20. Ohene Buabeng K, Matowe L, Plange-Rhule J. Unaffordable drug prices: the major cause of non-compliance with hypertension medication in Ghana. J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2004;7:350–352
  21. Cappuccio FP, Plange-Rhule J, Phillips RO, Eastwood JB. Prevention of hypertension and stroke in Africa. Lancet. 2000;356:677–678
  22. Agyemang C, Bhopal R, Bruijnzeels M, Redekop KW. Does white-coat effect in people of African and South Asian descent differ from those of the European origin white people? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Blood Press Monit. 2005;10:243–248

PII: S0033-3506(07)00153-9

doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2007.04.015

Public Health
Volume 122, Issue 1 , Pages 19-24 , January 2008

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