Prevalence of arterial hypertension in a city of Semey, East Kazakhstan
METHODS: Altogether, randomly selected 1,490 adults aged 20 and older (59.3% were women) participated in a cross-sectional in a city of Semey (population - 315 thousand), East Kazakhstan. The prevalence of arterial hypertension is presented across gender- and age-groups is presented with 95% binomial confidence intervals (CI).
RESULTS: The overall prevalence of hypertension was 46.1% (95% CI: 42.0-50.0) among men and 49.0% (95% CI: 45.6-52.3) among women. Among 20-29 year-olds, the prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI: 10.9-22.8) and 12.3% (95% CI: 8.5-17.1) among men and women, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension progressively increased with age and was 21.5% (95% CI: 14.8-29.6) and 15.6% (95% CI: 10.2-22.3) among 30-39 year-olds, 41.8% (95% CI: 31.9-52.2) and 34.5% (95% CI: 26.7-43.1) among 40-49 year-olds, 54.1% (95% CI: 43.7-64.2) and 66.9% (95% CI: 58.7-74.4) among 50-59 year-olds, 74.2% (95% CI: 62.0-84.2) and 71.6% (95% CI: 62.1-79.8) among 60-69year-olds and 68.5% (95% CI: 54.4-80.5) and 93.3% (95% CI: 86.1-97.5) among 70 years old and older.
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of arterial hypertension in the very high particularly in the advanced age. Point estimates were greater among men until 50 years, them hypertension became more common among women although gender differences in any of the age-groups did not reach the level of statistical significance. Although Semey is a typical city, we do not recommend generalizing our findings to the whole country given large economic variations between regions in Kazakhstan. Further research is needed to find factors associated with hypertension in Kazakhstan.