Prevalence of preoperative hypertension and its intraoperative anesthetic management among patients undergoing elective surgery at Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Southern Ethiopia

Overall, twenty of the world’s adult populations live with hypertension. Blood pressure determination forms an integral part of anesthesiologist’s evaluation of the patient prior to and during surgery. 25% of surgical patients have hypertension preoperatively. There are several risks related to untreated preoperative hypertension in perioperative and postoperative phase. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of preoperative hypertension and its intraoperative anaesthesia management among patients undergoing elective surgery at Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from March 20 to May 30, 2018. Institutional based cross-sectional study was employed. 423 patients that came for elective surgery at Hawassa University Comprehensive and Specialized Hospital from March 20 to May 30, 2018 were included in the study. The findings of this study showed that out of 423 patients studied, 232 (54.8%) and 191 (45.2%) were males and females, respectively, with the highest percentage (36.6) in age group 20 to 29 years, 6.9% were hypertensive, 11 (37.9%) of the hypertensive patients had abdominal procedures, 6 (20.6%) orthopedic procedures, 5 (17.3%) gynecological procedures, 5 (17.3%) undergone other type of surgical procedures (like neurological, plastic) and 2 (6.9%) thyroidectomy and ENT procedures. Beta Blockers were the most commonly used type of preoperative premedication for hypertensive patients. Majority of patients have had their procedure with general anaesthesia. Half was induced by thiopental and followed by propofol. Key words: Pre-operative, hypertension, anesthetic management, elective surgery.