Sammendrag
Introduction: Hypertension is among the leading causes of deaths globally as every year millions of people die, including both males and females, and if it tends on increasing at the same rate as it is presently having, then, it will have a huge impact on the overall population across the globe. It is interesting to note that hypertension is higher among Asian immigrants living in Europe and America as compared with other regions. Objectives: The main objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of hypertension, assessment regarding the awareness of hypertension and association of age, education and family history on hypertension among the Pakistani immigrant’s in Norway. Methodology: 286 participants were recruited to participate in a cross-sectional study which was conducted in the main Pakistani immigrant area of Oslo city, Norway. Convenience sampling technique was used to select participants and a specific criterion was set for the said purpose in order to have perfect results. People in mosques, shops and Pakistani gatherings, were reached for the said purpose and their respective blood pressures were measured after filling out an informed consent through a Digital Blood Pressure Monitor (CH-452) in a sitting position (three times from left arm after the individual participants were allowed to rest for 5 minutes). Blood pressure was measured to the nearest 2 mmHg value and the mean value obtained from these three readings was used as a data in order to be analyzed by using SPSS software version 22. Data was continuously collected over a five-month period from August 2015 to December 2015 and overall 52.1%participants were males and 47.9% were female. Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension among the participants was 39.5% (n=113) with 95% CI (30.5, 48.5). The result showed that 43% (n=64) with 95% CI (30.9, 55.1) of men were found to be hypertensive compared to 35.8% (n=49) with 95% CI (22.4, 49.2) among women. Among participants that were found to be hypertensive (n=113), 40.8% females and 59.4% of males were unaware of having hypertension. Among hypertensive participants, 50%of males and 51% females had previous family history of hypertension. With increase in age, risk of developing hypertension increases. In participants with high level of education, risk of having hypertension decreases. Conclusion: Hypertension is a very common problem among Pakistanis living both in Pakistan and abroad, particularly in Norway, as those who were living in Norway were found to have very high ratio of the hypertension. Men were reported to have more hypertension problems as compared with women despite of then fact that ratio of hypertension among both was significantly high. More than half of participants were found to be unaware of having a hypertension problem and the reasons quoted by participants for the high blood pressure include, they had never checked their blood pressure or visited a doctor for that purpose. Many participants having hypertension also had a family history of the hypertension.