Elevação de níveis pressórios em uma comunidade quilombola

Objective: To assess the prevalence of high blood pressure levels in a quilombo community. Methods: Quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study with a nonprobability sample in the Boca da Mata Quilombo Community (Maranhao) from December 2013 to April 2014 with 67 families. Sociodemographic and health/disease data were collected and blood pressure, weight and height were measured. The Chi-Squared test was used to check for associations between variables with p≤0.05. Results: The sample consisted of 74 individuals with a mean age of 43 (± 19.17) years – 63.51% (n=47) were women and 36.49% (n=27) were men. In all, 36.49% (n=27) of the participants had high blood pressure levels, and 17.57% (n=13) of these had a previous diagnosis of hypertension and reported using antihypertensive drugs. Of the participants previously diagnosed with hypertension, 38.4% (n=5) did not present with controlled blood pressure (greater than 140/90 mmHg). Of the participants with altered blood pressure, 42.55% (n=20) were women. As for the anthropometric data, the mean body mass index was 23.43 Kg/m2, with 22.22% (n=18) of the sample with excess weight. Conclusion: The community presents a high prevalence of Quilombolas with high blood pressure levels.