The evolution of smoking and hypertension association in last 20 years in the city of Aydın

Abstract

Objective: Smoking and hypertension (HT) are both preventable cardiovascular risk factors. But the relationship between hypertension and smoking is not clear yet. In our study we aimed to reveal the HT epidemiology in both smoking and non-smoking people around the city of Aydin. We will evaluate the impact of the smoking changes on HT prevalence by comparing our results with AYDINHIP study which was conducted around Aydin, 20 years ago.

Methods: Our study is designed as a cross-sectional study. People older than 18 years were selected with a random sampling method. A previously prepared questionnaire was applied by face to face method before blood pressure measurements. Stratified sampling method was used in our study.

Results: 2528 persons enrolled in our study. The 59% of participants were female and 41% were male. 26,7% of participants were smoking. Men were significantly smoking much more than women (p<0.001). Smoking rate of the high school or lower educated participants was 23,4% while it was 33.2% in high school or higher educated participants (p<0.001). Men and hypertensive participants were smoking for a longer time compared to women and normotensive participants respectively(p<0.001, p<0.001). 30.9% of total participants were hypertensive. HT prevalence in women was 31% and 30.8% in men. There was a statistically significant difference between smoking and non-smoking participants in terms of HT prevalence (p<0.001). 20.3% of hypertensive participants were smoking and 29.7% of normotensive participants were smoking. Although the systolic and diastolic blood pressure medians of smokers were lower than non-smokers, this cannot reach statistical significance (p꞊0,303, p꞊0,806,respectively). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure results were proportionally elevated with the daily smoking count. In 1-10 cigarette/day smoking participants, mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure results were significantly lower than the other smoking groups (p<0,001).

Conclusion: In the last 20 years, especially in men, there is a 36% reduction in smoking rates. HT prevalence was not accordingly reduced with smoking rates. Both in AYDINHIP and in our study, the HT prevalence was higher in non-smokers when compared with smokers.