ABC | Volume 113, Nº4, October 2019

Original Article Santiago et al. Prevalence of hypertension and associated factors Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 113(4):687-695 Table 4 – Distribution of systemic arterial hypertension according to biochemical variables in adults from the semi-arid region, state of Pernambuco, Brazil, 2015 Variables Systemic arterial hypertension p-value # n % 95%CI Fasting blood glucose 0.000 Normal * 56 28.4 22.2 – 35.3 Reduced glucose tolerance and/or DM † 30 68.2 52.4 – 81.4 Triglycerides 0.416 Normal ‡ 32 32.7 23.5 – 42.9 High § 54 37.8 29.8 – 46.2 Total cholesterol 0.005 Normal // 27 25.7 17.7 – 35.2 High ¶ 59 43.4 34.9 – 52.1 95%CI: 95% confidence interval; DM: diabetes mellitus; * < 100 mg/dL; † ≥ 100 mg/dL or when hypoglycemic medication was used; ‡ < 150 mg/dL; § ≥ 150 mg/dL; //  < 190 mg/dL; ¶ ≥ 190 mg/dL; # Pearson’s chi-square test. Table 5 – Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios for systemic arterial hypertension according to explanatory variables in adults from the semi- arid region, state of Pernambuco, Brazil, 2015 Variables n Systemic arterial hypertension p-value § Crude analysis Adjusted analysis PR 95%CI PR 95%CI Age (years) 20 – 29 13 1.00 1.00 30 – 39 20 1.05 0.97 – 1.13 1.05 0.97 – 1.13 0.214 40 – 49 25 1.24 1.12 – 1.36 1.24 1.12 – 1.36 0.000 50 – 59 56 1.42 1.31 – 1.53 1.42 1.31 – 1.53 0.000 Economic class * Upper or middle 45 1.00 1.00 Lower 69 1.12 1.05 – 1.20 1.09 1.02 – 1.17 0.007 Active smoking † Never smoked 54 1.00 1.00 Smoker or ex-smoker 60 1.31 1.22 – 1.41 1.11 1.02 – 1.22 0.023 BMI ‡ Not overweight 29 1.00 1.00 Overweight 76 1.09 1.02 – 1.17 1.21 1.07 – 1.37 0.003 Fasting blood glucose ‡ Normal 56 1.00 1.00 Reduced glucose tolerance and/or DM 30 1.31 1.19 – 1.44 1.15 1.03 – 1.27 0.012 PR: prevalence ratio; 95%CI: 95% confidence interval; BMI: body mass index; DM: diabetes mellitus; PR 1.00 - reference; * adjusted for age, schooling, and employment status; † adjusted for age, schooling, employment status, economic class, passive smoking, and physical activity level; ‡ adjusted for age, schooling, employment status, economic class, passive smoking, physical activity level, BMI, WC, waist-to-height ratio, and fasting blood glucose; § Poisson regression with robust variance. calculated only to estimate the prevalence of the outcome, possibly limiting the robustness of sub-analyses. Also, the predominance of females in the present study may have been due to the sampling method adopted. The cross-sectional design constitutes another limitation of the present study by not allowing the inference of causality, as information on exposure and outcome are collected at the same time. However, this study makes important contributions to the knowledge about the epidemiology of hypertension in the population investigated. According to Vianna and Segall‑Corrêa, 35 initiatives such as the present study are important and necessary for the acquisition of previously 692