Awareness, Treatment and Control of Hypertension in Nigeria: A Systematic Review

Аннотация

dyslipidaemia, obesity, poor diet, and physical inactivity Background: Inadequate hypertension diagnosis and (Glovaci et al., 2019; WHO, 2021). Once considered a management in Nigeria is a key contributor to problem of high-income countries, CVDs now represent cardiovascular morbidity and death. To direct a major public health concern appropriate preventive actions in Nigeria, a better in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where the dual burden of knowledge of the existing burden of hypertension is infectious and noncommunicable diseases continues to required, including awareness, treatment, and strain fragile health systems (Minja et al., 2022; management. To evaluate the trends of hypertension Wekwete et al., 2022). throughout the nation's various states, a systematic Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, review was done. exemplifies this epidemiological transition. Rising Methods: urbanisation and lifestyle shifts have contributed to an A thorough literature search was conducted using increasing prevalence of HTN and overweight/obesity, PRISMA guidelines to find empirical research on which are now significant contributors to morbidity and hypertension and obesity in adult Nigerians. In order to mortality (Issaka et al., 2018; Choukem et al., 2020). find original publications about the recognition, HTN-related conditions such as heart failure, stroke, and management, and control of hypertension in Nigeria renal disease have become common, often diagnosed published between 2002 and 2022, PubMed, Scopus, late or not at all. Recent studies highlight the ongoing and CINAHL were used as the major databases. Africa, challenges in managing hypertension in Nigeria. For Nigeria, awareness, therapy, control, and hypertension instance, a 2021 meta-analysis revealed that among were the main search phrases. To provide for more Nigerians with hypertension, only 29% were aware of research, the bibliographies mentioned in the their diagnosis, 12% were on treatment, and a mere 3% indicated papers were investigated. The articles' full achieved control (Ogungbe et al., 2024). In a recent texts were retrieved from a variety of online resources. study, over 45% of sudden cardiac deaths were This data was gathered using a data extraction form. attributable to hypertensive cardiovascular disease Results: (CVD), yet only 10% had a prior diagnosis (Danladi et al., 2025). Similarly, a tertiary hospital in Nigeria reported a The requirements for inclusion were satisfied by 48 43% case-fatality rate among hypertensive patients studies from each of the nation's six geopolitical (Danladi et al., 2025). regions. Regional differences in awareness, treatment, and control were significant. The awareness of rural The burden is compounded by the co-existence of people was lower than that of urban people. The undernutrition and rising obesity rates, presenting a South-South region has the greatest prevalence of unique challenge for public health systems in SSA hypertension. The lowest rates of hypertension (Sahoo et al., 2015; Ajayi et al., 2016). Moreover, ethnic management were seen in the South-West. Even minority populations who migrate to high-income among respondents who were aware of their condition countries often exhibit increased CVD risk, suggesting and those who were receiving treatment, there was that environmental and socioeconomic factors play a typically inadequate control of hypertension across the substantial role (Vyas et al., 2024; Hossain et al., 2025). nation. There were no estimates specific for either Globally, hypertension (HTN) is responsible for over 10 gender. million premature deaths and more than 218 million International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health Research 13 https://ijmsphr.com/index.php/ijmsphr International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health Research disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) annually (WHO, were considered. Studies on obstetrics, pharmacology, 2023). Projections estimate that by 2025, 1.5 billion anthropology, reviews, government publications, people—approximately one-third of the global protocols, pre-prints, studies conducted outside of population—will be hypertensive due to rising life Nigeria, and research on Nigerians who live outside the expectancy and obesity (Boateng & Ampofo, 2023). In country were all excluded. Studies that used medical high-income countries, advances in HTN management testing as part of the pre-selection process for have led to a 40% reduction in stroke risk and at least employment opportunities were also disqualified. The a 25% reduction in myocardial infarction (Dzau & results of many investigations involving the same group Balatbat, 2024), but such progress has not been of patients were combined, although the references mirrored in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (Nyame et al., listed distinct publications outlining the incidence of 2024). HTN. Studies that merely employed self-reporting of a history of HTN without taking a blood pressure readin