Comparative Analysis of C - reactive protein and Erythrocytes Sedimentation Rate among Hypertensive Patients Attending Gwako Primary Health Care Centre

Abstract

Background: Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure or arterial hypertension, is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. Blood pressure is expressed by two measurements, the systolic and diastolic pressures. Purpose/Aim: To investigate the usefulness of C-reactive protein and ESR as biomarkers for the diagnosis of hypertension among hypertensive patients attending gwakor primary health centre. Methods: The study investigated the levels of ESR and CRP among hypertensive subjects. Qualitative and semi quantitative C-reactive protein was carried out on serum and ESR was also done using whole blood. Result: Of the 200 subjects recruited for the study the age distribution of C-reactive protein seropositivity among the study subjects shown that the age between 21-30 had a seropositivity 1(5.6%) with a total Number of 18 within the group, and the age group between 31-40 shown a seropositivity of 5(9.8%) with total number tested within the age group 51, also the age range between 41-50 shown a seropositivity of 6(24.0%) with total number tested to be 25, and the age range between 51-60 had no seropositivity with total number tested were 4, while >60yrs showed 2(100.0%) with total number tested were 2. the highest number of seropositivity observed was in the age range of >60yrs and above, followed by 41-50 with 24%. The highest value observed among the age group of >60yrs was not surprised because this age group are prone to degenerative diseases because of age related conditions as individual aged as shown in table 4.1. The difference observed among the age distribution of CRP seropositivity among the study subjects showed a significance difference which was statistically significant. The sex distribution among the study subject showed that men had seropositivity of 10(19.6%) with a total number of 51 tested, while female showed 4(8.2%) with total number of 49 tested. Conclusion: The findings in this study confirmed that CRP and ESR are good inflammatory markers in the management of hypertensive patients, also CRP is a more sensitive and specific marker compared to ESR, and it also reveal that as individual is aging the risk of developing hypertension is high because elderly people are more expose compared to younger persons.