Christian Aaron Kobina, Owu Ruth Tenkoramaa, Kretchy Irene A
Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 96, Accra, Legon, Ghana.
School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, University of Ghana, P.O. Box KB 143, Accra, Ghana.
BMC Womens Health. 2025 Apr 15;25(1):181. doi: 10.1186/s12905-025-03713-3.
Hypertension remains a primary contributor to avoidable mortality and impairment. This study aimed to examine the association between household food insecurity (HFI), another public health concern, and hypertension among women farmers in peri-urban and rural communities in Ghana.
Self-reported hypertension status, blood pressure measurement, and HFI were assessed using data on 430 women from a cross-sectional survey. We examined the odds of hypertension in women experiencing different categories of food insecurity while controlling for other known factors.
Close to 74% (n = 319) of respondents belonged to households that were food-secure with 26% (n = 111) in food-insecure households. At the time of the survey, about a fifth of the participants (19%) reported to have ever been diagnosed with hypertension and 22% were living with high blood pressure (i.e., systolic: 140 mm Hg or higher and diastolic: 90 mm Hg or higher). Living in a rural community compared to a peri-urban community was associated with lower odds of living with high blood pressure. Older women were more likely than younger women to report having known hypertension and living with high blood pressure. Dangbe women were less likely to have high blood pressure than women from other ethnic groups. An increase in physical/morbidity activity was associated with a decreased likelihood of high blood pressure among food-insecure women.
This study buttresses the importance of hypertension awareness among older women, particularly, in urbanizing communities, and the need to explore mediating factors through which ethnicity may influence living with high blood pressure.
高血压仍然是可避免的死亡和健康损害的主要原因。本研究旨在探讨加纳城乡结合部和农村社区女性农民中另一个公共卫生问题——家庭粮食不安全（HFI）与高血压之间的关联。
利用横断面调查中430名女性的数据，评估自我报告的高血压状况、血压测量和家庭粮食不安全情况。我们在控制其他已知因素的同时，研究了经历不同程度粮食不安全的女性患高血压的几率。
近74%（n = 319）的受访者属于粮食安全家庭，26%（n = 111）属于粮食不安全家庭。在调查时，约五分之一的参与者（19%）报告曾被诊断患有高血压，22%的人患有高血压（即收缩压：140毫米汞柱或更高，舒张压：90毫米汞柱或更高）。与城乡结合部社区相比，生活在农村社区的人患高血压的几率较低。老年女性比年轻女性更有可能报告已知患有高血压和患有高血压。丹格贝族女性患高血压的可能性低于其他族裔的女性。身体/发病活动的增加与粮食不安全女性患高血压的可能性降低有关。
本研究强调了提高老年女性，特别是城市化社区老年女性高血压意识的重要性，以及探索种族可能影响高血压患病情况的中介因素的必要性。
