Association of Blood Pressure, Anthropometric Indices and Blood Group among Hypertensive Patients at Health centers in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Background: Uncontrolled BP is a major health problem both in developed and developing countries. Life style, behavioral or genetic factors are some of the risk factors for uncontrolled BP. There are many researches have done on the risk factors for hypertension. However, there is no research done on the association between blood pressure, anthropometric indices and blood group among hypertensive patients in health centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The aim of this study was therefore, to assess the association between blood pressure, anthropometric indices and blood group among hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A facility-based quantitative cross-sectional study was carried out among 235 hypertensive patients in health centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Structured questionnaires, anthropometric measurements and laboratory analysis were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed by using SPSS version 25 software. The binary and multiple logistic regression analysis were used. Result: In more than half, 142 (60.4%) of the hypertensive patients, the blood pressure was not controlled. “O” blood type was found to be the most common blood group accounting for 100 (42.6%), followed by “A” 66(28%), “B” 58(24.7%) and “AB” (4.7%). Physical inactivity (AOR = 2.47, 95% CI (1.10, 5.52), P = 0.027), salt intake (AOR = 2.22, 95% CI (1.03, 4.8), P = 0.043), BMI (AOR = 7.79, 95% CI (3.54, 17.13), P = 0.000), high waist circumference (AOR = 3.18, 95% CI (1.19, 8.47), P = 0.021), High Hip (AOR = 5.1, 95% CI (1.2, 21.25), P = 0.025), and “O” blood group (AOR = 2.46, 95% CI (1.0, 5.62), P = 0.026) were significantly associated with uncontrolled blood pressure. Conclusion: More than half of the hypertensive patients’ BP was not controlled. Significant associations were found between BP and salt intake, physical inactivity, BMI, WC, HC and blood group. HC and WC indices should be used routinely as a monitoring method of uncontrolled blood pressure in addition to BMI.