Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. There is increasing prevalence of hypertension in developing countries leading to increased risk of adverse outcomes. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2017. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. In Angola, 17 481 individuals were screened in six provinces with an average BP of 126/78 mmHg. After multiple imputation, 6022 (34.5%) had hypertension. Of individuals not receiving antihypertensive medication, 4080 (26.3%) were hypertensive. Of those receiving antihypertensive medication, 1159 (59.7%) had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 was the largest BP screening campaign undertaken in Angola. These results suggest that there is still a significant percentage of patients who are not medicated and possibly require medication, and more than half of the hypertensive patients do not have controlled BP demonstrating the need for a more targeted and comprehensive screening of BP and more effective treatment.
Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide with high prevalence in the world and with a huge impact on public health. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2018. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. In Angola 14 433 individuals (mean age 38.6 years; 53.7% female; 99.9% black) in 6 of 18 provinces were screened. In total, 99.0% of screenees provided three BP readings with an average BP from 2nd and 3rd reading of 126/80 mmHg. After imputation, 4844 (33.6%) had hypertension of whom 54.2% were aware of their diagnosis and 46.3% were on antihypertensive medication. Of those medicated, 42.6% were controlled and of all hypertensive individuals, 19.7% were controlled. We screened 2603 individuals with untreated hypertension and 1285 with inadequately treated hypertension. Angolan MMM18 emerges as a continuation of the Angolan MMM17 study, the largest BP screening campaign undertaken in Angola, enabling us to compare the 2 years. This year’s results also showed a high percentage of hypertensive individuals and almost 3900 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension, demonstrating that there is still a long way to go but also that the Angolan MMM is being effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals.
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