Factors Associated with the Occurrence of Arterial Hypertension in Industry Workers of State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract Background Hypertension is a serious and persistent public health problem and is one of the main causes of cardiovascular diseases and general mortality. Objectives This study aimed to verify the prevalence and factors associated with systemic arterial hypertension in workers from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Methods This is a cross-sectional study using the secondary data from 20,792 industry workers from 18 to 59 years of age. The presence of arterial hypertension was determined from systolic blood pressure ≥ 140mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90mmHg or taking antihypertensive medication. Factors investigated included demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, nutritional status, and family history characteristics. Poisson regression was used in multivariate analysis, adopting a significance level of p<0.05. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results The sample included 12,349 men and 8,443 women with a mean age of 32.8 years (Standard Deviation = 9.8). The prevalence of arterial hypertension was 10.3% (95% CI: 9.8-10.7), which was significantly higher in men than in women (10.9% vs 9.4%; p = 0.001). Arterial hypertension was associated with increased age, a low level of education, living with a partner, being overweight or obese, and having at least one relative with a history of hypertension for both sexes. Women with better socioeconomic conditions presented a lower prevalence of hypertension. Conclusions The main factors associated with hypertension included sociodemographic, nutritional, and family history characteristics. In addition, socioeconomic conditions showed an association with the occurrence of hypertension, especially among women.