Open AccessPrevalence of white coat and masked hypertension in Africa: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Noubiap Jean Jacques,
Nansseu Jobert Richie,
Nkeck Jan René,
Nyaga Ulrich Flore,
Bigna Jean Joel
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the journal of clinical hypertension
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1751-7176
pISSN - 1524-6175
DOI - 10.1111/jch.13321
Subject(s) - meta analysis , white coat hypertension , medicine , demography , medline , mean difference , confidence interval , blood pressure , ambulatory blood pressure , biology , sociology , biochemistry
Data on masked hypertension (MH) and white‐coat hypertension (WCH) in African populations are needed to estimate the true prevalence of hypertension in these populations because they have the highest burden of the disease. We conducted the first systematic review and meta‐analysis that summarized available data on the prevalence of WCH and MH in Africa. We searched PubMed and Scopus to identify all the articles published on MH and WCH in populations living in Africa from inception to November 30, 2017. We reviewed each study for methodological quality. A random‐effects model was used to estimate the prevalence of WCH and MH across studies. Eleven studies were included, all having a low‐risk of bias. The prevalence of masked hypertension was 11% (95% CI: 4.7‐19.3; 10 studies) in a pooled sample of 7789 individuals. The prevalence of WCH was 14.8% (95% CI: 9.4‐21.1; 8 studies) in a pooled sample of 4451 individuals. There was no difference on the prevalence of WCH and MH between studies in which participants were recruited from the community and the hospital. The prevalence of MH was higher in urban areas compared to rural ones; there was no difference for WCH. WHC and MH seem to be frequent in African populations, suggesting the importance of out‐of‐clinic BP measurement in the diagnosis and management of patients with hypertension in Africa, especially in urban areas for MH.