1.1 Introduction
Hypertension is the most common condition seen in primary care and leads to myocardial infarction, stroke, renal failure, and death if not detected early and treated appropriately (James et al., 2014). Every year approximately 7.5 million deaths occur worldwide due to hypertension which amounting to 13% of total of all annual death (World Health Organization 2013). Around 970 million people worldwide have been suffering from hypertension (World Heart Foundation, 2017).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
In Nigeria, hypertension is turning out to be a common chronic disease among adults and 26.4% people have hypertension in which women are found to be more prone than that of men (Chowdhury et al., 2016). According to a study conducted by Rahim et al., (2012), the rural population of Nigeria has an increasing trend in having hypertension. As far our knowledge, there are very few organizational level data on prevalence and risk factors of hypertension among urban poor adult in Nigeria. Previously, it was known that hypertension is a disease most commonly seen in developed and wealthy countries. However, changing life style, increased stress in daily lives have shifted the scenario completely as now this disease is more common in developing countries.
Unfortunately, the global prevalence of hypertension is increasing day by day and it is anticipated that over 500 million people will be affected by the year 2025 (Murray CJL, 1996). So, reducing the incidence and prevalence of hypertension and hypertension-related adverse outcomes is a major public health challenge at present (Ibrahim and Damasceno, 2012).
Around 35% of adult people in south-east Asia have hypertension. 9.4% of total death in this region is caused by hypertension. Some of the countries of this region have an increasing trend of hypertension and Nigeria is considered to be one of those (Krishnani, Gargii and Athula, 2013).
The seriousness of this adult illness (high blood pressure) is not just that it can lead to more serious illness or complications, raises the risk of stroke, kidney failure, heart disease and heart attack. The matter is made worse with the existence of too much weight or fat in the body as this tends to make the condition severe. It is the duty of stakeholders in health sectors to keep the adult folk aware of the implication of over-weight by providing them with accurate, timely and up to date information regarding this health condition. It is also the duty of health personnel to warn and educate adults who are more prone to high blood pressure, about the dangers of over-weight in the management of high blood pressure. This awareness is expected to affect the feeding habit of these people, since it has been observed that poor feeding (that is, poor combination of the classes of food, not necessarily the quantity) is one of the causes of over-weight (Sacks F.M, 2008).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Prevalence and Determinant of Hypertension among Students Unionist.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation reveals that seriousness of this adult illness (high blood pressure) is not just that it can lead to more serious illness or complications, raises the risk of stroke, kidney failure, heart disease and heart attack. The matter is made worse with the existence of too much weight or fat in the body as this tends to make the condition severe. It is the duty of stakeholders in health sectors to keep the adult folk aware of the implication of over-weight by providing them with accurate, timely and up to date information regarding this health condition.
It is also the duty of health personnel to warn and educate adults who are more prone to high blood pressure, about the dangers of over-weight in the management of high blood pressure. This awareness is expected to affect the feeding habit of these people, since it has been observed that poor feeding (that is, poor combination of the classes of food, not necessarily the quantity) is one of the causes of over-weight (Sacks F.M, 2008).
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Prevalence and Determinant of Hypertension among Students Unionist. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To estimate the different determinants of hypertension among Students Unionist
- To estimate the prevalence of systemic hypertension among Students Unionist
- To find out the different risk factors of systemic hypertension among Students Unionist
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Are there different risk factors of systemic hypertension among Students Unionist?
- What is the prevalence of systemic hypertension among Students Unionist?
- What are the different determinants of hypertension among Students Unionist?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
- H0: There are no significant risk factors of systemic hypertension among Students Unionist
- H1: There are significant risk factors of systemic hypertension among Students Unionist
1.7 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Prevalence and Determinant of Hypertension among Students Unionist.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
