MCH Student:

Maryam Ghobadzadeh

Date of Defense:

January 28, 2014

Abstract:

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of  hypertension, glucose and blood lipid abnormalities among Ethiopian immigrants.

Design and Sample: This cross – sectional study used data from the parish – nursing program 2007 – 2012. A total of 673  encounters were included in this study.

Measures: Various dependents variables including systolic blood pressure , diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, and serum lipids were examine.

Results: Respondents in this sample were 43% male and 57% female. The overall  prevalence of the hypertension was 30.1% with a cut off mark of 140/90  _mm/ Hg.  The  prevalence of hypertension was 33% and 24% among men than among women  respectively (p<0.01). Of all participants, 12% had blood glucose level of equal or greater  than 126_mg/dL. _Low levels of HDL were reported in 30% of the respondents (<40  _mg/dL). A higher prevalence of high LDL levels (20%) was observed among women  compared to those found in men (16%) . High Total Cholesterol levels (>200 _mg/ dL )  were observed in 15% of the women and 10% of the men (p=0.2) .

Conclusions: In the current study the overall prevalence of high blood pressure was  high among both male and female participants and indicate s hypertension is a major  public health problem in this community. These results showed that the hypertension is  prevalent among the Ethiopian immigrants. The result of this study has significant  implications for public health nursing.