Affiliation:
1. Instituto Nacional de Investigação em Saúde (INIS) Luanda Angola
2. Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Angola (CISA) Caxito Angola
3. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde (ICISA) Luanda Angola
4. Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM), Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT) Lisbon Portugal
5. Centro de Estudos, Investigação Cientifica e Pós‐graduação (CEIP) Luanda Angola
6. Centro Nacional de Investigação Científica (CNIC) Luanda Angola
Abstract
AbstractBackground and AimsHypertension is a public health concern, mainly in resource‐limited countries. We investigated the characteristics and risk factors related to high blood pressure in healthy blood donors from, Luanda, the capital city of Angola.MethodsThis was a retrospective study that included 343 healthy donors from December 2019 to September 2020.ResultsThe mean age was 32 ± 9 years. Men represented 93% of the population. Mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 131 ± 12.3 mmHg (ranging from 100 to 160 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 80.1 ± 9.72 mmHg (from 56.0 to 100 mmHg). DBP was related to age and gender (p < 0.05). About 7.3% of the donors had high‐pressure (>140/90 mmHg). Age between 20 and 40 years (odds ratio [OR]: 2.52, p = 0.043), women (OR: 1.87, p = 0.548), nonurbanized areas (OR: 0.39, p = 0.067), high educational level (OR: 0.76, p = 0.637), employed (OR: 0.49, p = 0.491), voluntary donors (OR: 0.87, p = 0.799), blood group B (OR: 2.06, p = 0.346), and Rh‐ (OR: 0.26, p = 0.104), were potentially related with high‐pressure. The high‐pressure cases increased from December 2019 (4%) to September 2020 (28%) (p = 0.019).ConclusionWe showed high pressure among the healthy blood donors population. Demographic characteristics, ABO/Rh blood group, and year period are features that should be considered in cardiovascular disease control strategies. Biological and nonbiological features related to blood pressure changes should be considered for further studies in the Angolan population.