జర్నల్ ఆఫ్ హైపర్‌టెన్షన్: ఓపెన్ యాక్సెస్

Background: Hypertension (also known as high blood pressure) is a condition in which the blood pressure of a person is consistently too high. Hypertension is often called the ‘‘silent killer’’ because it may not present any warning signs or symptoms and therefore may not be detected until another serious medical condition is diagnosed. It is a major risk factor for heart disease, heart failure, and stroke, and can result in other serious medical complications, including blindness and kidney failure.

Objective: The aim of this study is to discover the prevalence of hypertension among people living in Ebudu Community in Edo, State, Nigeria. Methodology: A systematic random sampling was used in recruiting seventy three (73) persons who participate in this study. The necessary information and blood pressure readings were taken. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 23.

Results: The mean age of the respondent were 55.25 + 14.53, 20 (27.4%) were between 56 – 65 years, 61 (83.6%) were female, 40 (54.8%) were farmers and 30 (41.1%) had secondary school education. 11 (14.4%) have normal blood pressure (100/60 – 120/80), 20 (28.0%) are pre – hypertensive/at risk (121/81 – 139/89), 24 (33.6) are at stage 1 hypertension (140/90 – 159/99) and 18 (25.2%) are at stage 2 hypertension (160/100) and above.

Conclusion: Hypertension is a non-communicable disease of public health concern as it is one of the causes of increased mortality across the globe. For these reasons, health education and promotion measures designed to prevent and control all the contributory risk factors of hypertension in the community should be strengthened and be focus of attention.

Background and Objectives: Intestinal bacteria digest substances, produce metabolites, and influence the host. Blood pressure increases with age, even in healthy people, and hypertension is said to affect one in four people worldwide. It is a major risk factor for stroke and stroke-related death. Although it is known that blood pressure is correlated with the ratio of Firmicutes and Bacteroides in gut microbiota and that the intake of peptides in fermented dairy products lowers blood pressure in humans, the relationship with the gut microbiota at the genus level is still inconsistent. Here, we aimed to examine the association between high blood pressure, gut microbiota, and nutrient intake by removing gender, age, and genetic effects.

Materials and Methods: We selected hypertensive discordant Japanese monozygotic twins and confirmed their zygosity by matching 15 short tandem repeat loci. Their fecal samples were subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing and bioinformatics analyses to identify and compare fluctuations in intestinal bacteria.

Results: Four genera were extracted by comparing age- and gender-unified hypertensive and non-hypertensive groups, and 15 genera: Actinomyces, Butyricicoccus, Coprobacter, Coprococcus 1, Eubacterium fissicatena group, Eubacterium rectale group, Eubacterium ruminantium group, Eubacterium eligens group, Lachnospira, Prevotellaceae UCG 001, Ruminiclostridium 9, Ruminococcaceae NK 4A 214 group, Ruminococcaceae UCG 004, Ruminococcaceae UCG 005 and Ruminococcaceae UCG 014 were extracted by focusing on differences between pairs to account for genetic effects. The correlation between the 15 hypertension-associated bacteria extracted and nutrient intake showed that most minerals, vitamins, and lipids, including plant fatty acids, had a negative correlation with Actinomyces, while some had a positive correlation with the Eubacterium rectale group.

Conclusions: When comparing monozygotic twins with hypertension discordance, age, sex, and genetic factors were excluded, and 15 hypertension-related genera were extracted, including Actinomyces and Eubacterium rectale group, which were associated with several nutrients