Investigating Hypertension Prevalence and Some of Its Influential Factors in an Ethnically Variant Rural Sample

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of hypertension and its associated risk factors in a rural population with ethnic variation. This was a cross sectional study conducted in rural areas of Agh- Ghola in Golestan province. 1500 thirty-plus- year-old participants were selected by cluster sampling method. Due to the nature of the variables, the data were collected through interview, measurement and observation, and they were analyzed through logistic regression. The prevalence of hypertension was 18.4% and women suffered more from the disease than men did. Hypertension prevalence in Turkmen was greater than that in Baluchi and Sistani ethnic groups. There was also a significant relationship between hypertension and lack of physical activity, and with the age increase, the hypertension prevalence also showed an increasing trend. Major risk factors were: age over 60, high BMI, lack of physical activity and high proportion of abdominal to hip circumference. The higher prevalence of hypertension among Turkmen was firstly because of the weight-gain and higher BMI, and secondly due to lack of physical activity. The higher susceptibility of women to hypertension was due to the higher frequency of risk factors among them, no the effect of their gender.