BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS ACCESSING CARE AT A LARGE PHC CENTRE IN JOHANNESBOURG, SOUTH AFRICA

Introduction: Hypertension has important clinical/public health implications and has remained uncontrolled in many settings despite the availability of effective treatments. Objective: To determine the extent of blood pressure (BP) control and associated factors among hypertensive patients accessing care at the study site. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study involving 422 randomly selected hypertensive patients aged ≥18 years. Demographic and clinical data were collected using structured face to face questionnaire supplemented by respondents’ clinical records. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, t-test and logistic regression. The main outcome measure was the extent to which BP was controlled to target. Results: Most participants were: males (54.5%); mean age was 59.4 (sd, 11.9) years and BMI was 26.7 (sd, 5.9) kg/m2. Obesity/overweight (66.4%) and diabetes (54%) were the most common co-morbidities. Compliance/Adherence to treatment was generally poor (36.3%). BP controlled to target was achieved in 50.2%, but more in males (30.1%) compared to females (20.1%). Significant predictors of BP control were; overweight (OR = 0.293, 95% CI = 0.159, 0.541, df = 1, p =