ABSTRACT
Hypertension or high blood pressure has been described by the world Health Organisation (WHO), expert committee on arterial hypertension as, the persistent elevation of arterial blood pressure. (4) Hypertension is a very common condition which if untreated increases the risk of complications (such as heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and retinal damage) and decreases life expectancy. Therefore, good management and control, as promoted by WHO are required. A necessary step to be taken is to adhere to a good therapeutic protocol in the management and control of hypertension. This protocol covers the choice of effective antihypertensive drugs, prescriber preferences as well as patient perception and satisfaction, which serve as important indicators of certain aspects of the complex process of hypertension control and management. The benefits to be derived from good and effective management of hypertension include prevention of morbid and fatal cardiovascular and renal events, improvement in the quality of life gained by avoiding hospital admission and reduction in the need for rehabilitation. programme to study therapeutic protocol of hypertension management may take any of several approaches as described by the WHO. (233) The patient approach viii was used in this study. It involved selection of a sample of patients with established hypertension. These patients were interviewed and their case histories were reviewed as well. This is called a retrospective assessment. In this study, five (5) evaluative criteria were surveyed using both patient records and questionnaires, personal data, family, social, clinical and drug histories were surveyed as well as non-drug therapeutic measures used in the management of hypertension, for the period of this study, (November 1997 to November 1998), in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, ABUTH, Zaria. The exclusion criterion was that newly diagnosed hypertensive patients were not selected and only those known hypertensive patients that attended the cardiac clinic during the period of the survey were selected. 41 hypertensive patients were studied (hypertension prevalence has a normal distribution in the population and a sample can be used to study the whole population). There were more female sufferers of hypertension (76%). Hypertension was highest between 41 - 69 years in female and between 50 - 70 years in male patients. Many patients were obese (31%). Female patients were either housewives or petty traders (36%) Male patients had varied occupations. There was no parental history of hypertension in (70%) of patients while (15%) had hypertensive fathers and (15%) had hypertensive mothers. Among some female patients hypertension was pregnancy related. The prevalence of pregnancy - induced hypertension was (43%) while 17% of cases were pregnancy - aggravated.