Mortality and Co-morbidities Among Hospitalised Hypertensives in Nigeria

Background: The present study therefore aimed to systematically assess the co-morbidities and in-hospital outcomes among hypertensives admitted to 3 Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria. Methods: Medical records of all subjects admitted to the medical wards of the study centres with an established diagnosis of hypertension in 2013 were reviewed. Results: 288 hypertensive patients were consecutively admitted in the medical wards of the 3 centres in 2013, of whom 146 (59.8%) were males. 88.4% of males and 87.8% of females had 1 or more co-morbidities at admission, and the commonest among all patients was heart failure (HF) followed by stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA), in 76 (31.2%) and 69 (28.3%) patients respectively. The most frequent co-morbidity among males was HF in 34.3% of them, while stroke/TIA was more common among female patients, in 34.7% of them. Non-cardiovascular co-morbidities were uncommon, and the most frequent was community acquired pneumonia in 7.4% of all patients. 7.8% of all patients (13 males and 6 females; p=0.427) died in-hospital. The deceased had higher Systolic Blood Pressure than the survivors, and majority of them (52.6%) were not on any antihypertensive medications at admission, which was the only predictor of mortality in the present study, increasing its odds by 7.5 fold (odds ratio=7.5; 95%confidence interval=2.8-20.0; p<0.001). Conclusion: The most frequent co-morbidity among males was HF while stroke and TIA were most common among female patients. The prevalence of in-hospital mortality was relatively low, and not being on antihypertensive treatment at admission increased its odds by 7.5 fold.