Investigating the incidence and risk factors of hypertension: A multicentre retrospective cohort study in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

• Published in: PloS one 2022-01, Vol.17 (1), p.e0262259-e0262259
• Main Authors: Yagoub, Umar, Saiyed, Nasrin S, Al Qahtani, Bandar, Al Zahrani, Attiya Mohammed, Birema, Yassir, Al Hariri, Ibrahim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Armed forces; Blood pressure; Cardiology; Cohort analysis; Confidence intervals; Crises; Data analysis; Data collection; Departments; Developing countries; Disease prevention; Electronic records; Ethnicity; Exercise; Exercise - physiology; Family medical history; Female; Genetics; Global health; Health risks; Hospitals; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - etiology; Incidence; LDCs; Lifestyles; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Military; Multivariate Analysis; Patients; People and places; Physical activity; Population; Public health; Regression models; Research and Analysis Methods; Retrospective Studies; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Saudi Arabia - epidemiology; Sedentary Behavior; Sex; Smoking; Smoking - adverse effects; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262259

Hypertension is a major global health concern affecting approximately 1.13 billion people worldwide, with most of them residing in developing countries. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of different stages of hypertension and its associated modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors among patients in military-setting hospitals in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. This retrospective cohort study was conducted at two hospitals in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The data were collected from hospital electronic records from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019. The blood pressure levels of patients from the last three separate medical visits were recorded. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression were used for the data analysis. The study included 884 hypertensive patients. The incidences of stage of elevated BP, stage 1, stage 2, and hypertension crisis were 60.0, 29.5, 7.0, and 3.5 cases per 1000 persons. Multivariate analysis indicated that progression from the stage of elevated blood pressure to hypertension crisis was significantly associated with advanced age (odds ratio [OR] = 3.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.99-8.42), male sex (OR = 2.84, 95% CI: 0.57-5.92), and a positive family history of hypertension (OR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.23-3.09). Other key determinants of the development of stage of elevated blood pressure to hypertension crisis were current smoking status (OR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.23-4.76), and physical inactivity (OR = 6.48, 95% CI: 2.46-9.14). The incidence stage of elevated blood pressure was high among the patients investigated at armed forces hospitals in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The logistic regression model proposed in the present study can be used to predict the development of different stages of hypertension. Age, sex, marital status, family history, smoking status, and physical activity play an important role in the development of hypertension. Better strategies to improve awareness, screening, treatment, and management of hypertension are required in Saudi Arabia.