Paper Title
Common Risk Factors and Compliance of Hypertensive Patients in Pakistan

Abstract
Introduction Hypertension is a leading contributor to mortality worldwide. As of 2015, an estimated 1.1 billion people have high a diagnosis of hypertension.3 In 2008, hypertensioncontributed to 7.5 million deaths, about 12.8% of the total number of annual deaths for an estimated 20,500 deaths per day4.The estimated prevalence of hypertension in Pakistan is 26.34%, as of 20185.In this study, weinvestigated the risk factors and demographics and medical compliance of hypertensive patients in Pakistan. Methods This was a prospective epidemiological study to investigate the common risk factors and compliance of medications of hypertensive patients in Pakistan. After determining which patients had hypertension at the NICVD, defined as ≥140/90 mmHg, we conducted interviews with the aid of a pre-made questionnaire. The data of 200 patients was compiled and analyzed on Microsoft Excel. Results Patient Demographics Sixty-two percent of patients were male and 64% of all patients were between the ages of 50 to 70 years. The average and median age was 57 years. Sixty-one percent of patients were diagnosed within the last 5 years, with an average 5.8 years. Forty-three percent of patients had no education and 19% had only completed primary school. Patient Lifestyles Only 57% of patients were non-smokers, while 23% of all patients were heavy smokers.In addition, 71% of patients had a sedentary lifestyle – little or no exercise, defined as≤30 minutes of brisk walking daily. Patient Comorbidities Sixty-one percent of patients had type 2 diabetes and 77% of all patients had hyperlipidemia. Eighty-five percent of patients had prior history of myocardial infarction (MI) or diagnosis of heart failure and 57.4% of those patients had >1 MI. Compliance Sixty-one percent of patients are taking their medication daily as prescribed, while 12% of all patients have never or rarely take their medication. Moreover, 59% of patients regularly check their blood pressure with 36%checking their blood pressure daily. Half of all patients visit their doctor at least monthly, while 5% of patients never visit their physician. Conclusion The 200 Hypertensive patients interviewed had a range of socioeconomic anddemographic backgrounds. Hypertensive patients were predominantly male and were an average age of 57 years old and were (although relatively lower when compared to other studies) complaint with taking medication and checking blood pressure. However, the most significant features of these patients were that 85% had ≥1 myocardial infarction, had hyperlipidemia and had a sedentary lifestyle. In conclusion, a variety of unhealthy lifestyle factors are associated with the high prevalence of hypertension in our study population. References NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, “Worldwide trends in blood pressure from 1975 to 2015: a pooled analysis of 1479 population-based measurement studies with 19•1 million participants” November 2016. Global Health Observatory, WHO http://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/blood_pressure_prevalence_text/en/ - 2008 Nabi Shah, Qasim Shah, and Abdul Jabbar Shah, “The burden and high prevalence of hypertension in Pakistani adolescents: a meta-analysis of the published studies” April 2018.