Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment is a condition when a person suffers from recalling,
learning new things, concentrating, or making decisions that affect their everyday life.
Hypertension is highly prevalent disease affecting around one billion individuals worldwide
and 55.2% African population Hypertension has been associated with reduced abstract
reasoning (executive dysfunction), slowing of mental processing speed and memory deficits,
The blood vessels in the prefrontal subcortical areas are often affected by sever hypertension,
which can affect the ability to make executive decisions and other brain function .
OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and predictor of cognitive impairment among
hypertensive patients on follow up at Jimma University Medical Centre, Jimma, Southwest
Ethiopia, 2018
METHODS: Institution based cross sectional study design was employed from June 01 to July
15, 2018 among 279 hypertensive patients on follow-up at Jimma University Medical Centre
chronic clinic, Jimma, Ethiopia. The data collection tools contained sociodemographic
characteristics, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), substance use, medical history, blood
pressure and somatic measurements such as body weight and height. The MMSE scale was
used to measure cognition level. The collected data were cleared and entered into SPSS
Version 20.0 for analysis. The association between the independent variables and the outcome
variable (cognition level) was analyzed using logistic regression model. A p-value of <0.05
was considered statistically significant in the final model.
RESULTS: Out of the 279 hypertensive patients included in this study, 142 (50.9%) were male
and the remaining proportion was female. The mean age ± SD of the participants was 53.15 +
11.544 years with a range of 20 to 86 years. Nearly two-third (178, 63.8%) of the participants
were aged between 40 and 59 years. The prevalence of cognitive impairment (less than 24 out
30 on MMSE scale) in this study was 108 (38.7%). Cigarette smoking (AOR=4.302, 95% CI:
1.106-16.734), physical inactivity (AOR=2.05, 95% CI: 1.05-5.97), triglycerides level > 200
mg/dl (AOR=4.48, 95% CI: 1.898-10.587) and Stage I (AOR=5.125; 95% CI: 2.052-12.802) and Stage II hypertension (AOR=3.434; 95% CI: 1.498-7.871) were significantly associated
with cognitive level.
CONCLUSION: Cognitive impairment was relatively common in the study population. The
study revealed that cigarette smoking, lack of physical activity, high triglyceride levels and
Stage I and II HTN were significantly associated with cognitive impairment.
