Centile Estimation of Blood Pressure by Age and Sex for Adults Aged 35- 64 in Namibia

Atanasia Katana Peneyambeko Bonge, University of Namibia
Lawrence Kazembe, University of Namibia
Lillian Pazvakawambwa, University of Namibia

This study estimated centiles by age and sex to establish reference data for blood pressure in Namibia. Data analysis was based on a sample size of 3095 adults aged 35-64 years, obtained from the 2013 NDHS. The analysis was based on the Generalised Additive Model for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) approach, where six families of distributions were compared to select the most ideal model to measure the SBP and the DBP. Results confirmed that both SBP and DBP levels elevated steadily with increasing age, with 25% of the population estimated as hypertensive, but varied by sex. Findings show that 10 % of males aged 35–41years and females aged 35- 46 years were hypertensive. Additionally, 25% of males aged between 42 – 64 years and 25% of females aged between 47 – 64 years were hypertensive. There is need to take corrective measures to minimize the increasing rate of hypertension.