Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Feb 26, 2015; 3(1): 54-60
Published online Feb 26, 2015. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v3.i1.54
Hypertension in Zimbabwe: A meta-analysis to quantify its burden and policy implications
Mutsa Pamela Mutowo, John Chamunorwa Mangwiro, Paula Lorgelly, Alice Owen, Andre MN Renzaho
Mutsa Pamela Mutowo, Alice Owen, Andre MN Renzaho, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne 3004, Australia
John Chamunorwa Mangwiro, Zimbabwe Diabetes Association, PO Box 1797, Harare, Zimbabwe
Paula Lorgelly, Centre for Health Economics, Clayton Campus, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia
Andre MN Renzaho, School of Social Science and Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Sydney 2751, New South Wales, Australia
Author contributions: Mutowo MP and Renzaho AMN performed the systematic review; Mutowo MP performed the meta-analysis, analyzed the data and wrote up results; Owen A, Mangwiro JC and Lorgelly P previewed retrieved papers and analyzed data; Renzaho AMN, Owen A, Lorgelly P and Mangwiro JC critically reviewed and edited the manuscript, and contributed towards sections in the paper.
Supported by An Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, No. FT110100345 (to Renzaho A); The sponsor had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the report.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing: No additional data is available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Andre MN Renzaho, PhD, MPH, MPHAA, Professor of Humanitarian and Development Studies, School of Social Science and Psychology, University of Western Sydney, James Ruse Drive, Sydney 2751, New South Wales, Australia. andre.renzaho@uws.edu.au
Telephone: +61-2-47360107
Received: October 24, 2014
Peer-review started: October 27, 2014
First decision: November 14, 2014
Revised: December 16, 2014
Accepted: December 29, 2014
Article in press: December 31, 2014
Published online: February 26, 2015
Processing time: 87 Days and 14.1 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To estimate the pooled prevalence of hypertension in Zimbabwe and describe its trend since independence in 1980 using secondary source data.

METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE and Scopus databases from April 1980 to December 2013 were searched for population and community based studies on the prevalence of hypertension among adults (≥ 18 years) in Zimbabwe. The key words used were “prevalence”, “epidemiologic studies”, “hypertension” or “high blood pressure”, based on the cut-off (≥ 140 mmHg systolic blood pressure and/or ≥ 90 mmHg diastolic blood pressure). We conducted a meta-analysis on the published studies, using the random-effects model to estimate the pooled prevalence.

RESULTS: The search retrieved 87 publications, of which four studies met the selection criteria. The four studies had a total of 4829 study participants between 1997 and 2010 across 5 provinces in Zimbabwe. Two studies were in urban areas, while the other two had mixed study settings (urban and rural). The overall pooled prevalence of hypertension was 30% (95%CI: 19%, 42%, I2= 98%, χ2 = 164.15, P = 0.00).

CONCLUSION: Our results show a high prevalence of hypertension in Zimbabwe, with urban areas having higher prevalence than rural areas.

Keywords: Hypertension; High blood pressure; Prevalence; Meta-analysis; Zimbabwe

Core tip: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the prevalence of hypertension in Zimbabwe, from April 1980 to December 2013 reveals a high prevalence of 30%. Hypertension prevalence was higher in studies in urban settings compared with studies in mixed settings (urban and rural), indicating the increase of cardiovascular risk factors associated with urbanization and economic progress. The development of national prevention policies and control strategies for hypertension are critical to reduce the increasing burden of hypertension in Zimbabwe.