Disparities in Prevalence and Barriers to Hypertension Control: A Systematic Review

Mohamed Hassan Elnaem (), Manar Mosaad, Doaa H Abdelaziz, Noha O. Mansour, Abubakar Usman, Mahmoud E. Elrggal and Ejaz Cheema
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Mohamed Hassan Elnaem: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan 25200, Malaysia
Manar Mosaad: Department of Internal Medicine, Ministry of Health, Alexandria Governorate 5517176, Egypt
Doaa H Abdelaziz: Pharmacy Practice & Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Future University in Egypt, Cairo 4740011, Egypt
Noha O. Mansour: Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura 7650030, Egypt
Abubakar Usman: Discipline of Clinical Pharmacy, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
Mahmoud E. Elrggal: College of Pharmacy, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia
Ejaz Cheema: School of Pharmacy, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54770, Pakistan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-16

Abstract: Controlling hypertension (HTN) remains a challenge, as it is affected by various factors in different settings. This study aimed to describe the disparities in the prevalence and barriers to hypertension control across countries of various income categories. Three scholarly databases—ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar—were systematically examined using predefined search terms to identify potentially relevant studies. Original research articles published in English between 2011 and 2022 that reported the prevalence and barriers to HTN control were included. A total of 33 studies were included in this systematic review. Twenty-three studies were conducted in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and ten studies were from high-income countries (HIC). The prevalence of hypertension control in the LMIC and HIC studies ranged from (3.8% to 50.4%) to (36.3% to 69.6%), respectively. Concerning barriers to hypertension control, patient-related barriers were the most frequently reported ( n = 20), followed by medication adherence barriers ( n = 10), lifestyle-related barriers ( n = 8), barriers related to the affordability and accessibility of care ( n = 8), awareness-related barriers ( n = 7), and, finally, barriers related to prescribed pharmacotherapy ( n = 6). A combination of more than one category of barriers was frequently encountered, with 59 barriers reported overall across the 33 studies. This work reported disparities in hypertension control and barriers across studies conducted in LMIC and HIC. Recognizing the multifactorial nature of the barriers to hypertension control, particularly in LMIC, is crucial in designing and implementing customized interventions.

Keywords: hypertension; blood pressure; prevalence; barriers; medication adherence; awareness; antihypertensive agents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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