Background: Essential hypertension can be defined as a rise in blood pressure of unknown cause that increases risk for cerebral, cardiac, and renal events. In industrialized countries, the risk of becoming hypertensive (blood pressure >140/90 mm Hg) during a lifetime exceeds 90%. Essential hypertension usually clusters with other cardiovascular risk factors such as ageing, being overweight, insulin resistance, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia(1). It can also be defined as persistently abnormal elevation of blood pressure noted above 140/90mmHg based on three readings on separate occasions (2).
Objective:To assess knowledge and practice towards the risk factors for hypertension among the secondary school students.
Methodology:This was a school based cross – sectional study which was conducted at Nyamagana district in Mwanza. Data was collected by using structured questionnaire presented in both in English and Swahili by simple random sampling technique. The data obtained were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).
Results: 376 secondary students in Nyamagana district were interviewed about the knowledge towards the risk factors for hypertension, about 73.6% (n=277) knew about the risk factors for hypertension while 26.4% (n=99) knew nothing at all about the risk factors for hypertension. Majority, 41.5% (n=156) mentioned family history of hypertension as the risk factor followed by fatty diet 27.1% (n=102). 17.8% (n=67) of the participants mentioned physical inactivity, 12% (n=45) mentioned cigarette smoking and the rest 1.6% (n=6) mentioned alcohol as the risk factor for hypertension About 70.1% (n=264) of the participants reported to do body exercise at least once per week while 29.9% (n=112) never exercised. Among those doing exercise, 33% (n=87) reported to exercise once a week, 30.3% (n=80) twice a week and 36.7% (n=97) exercised more than twice a week.
Conclusion: This study revealed good general knowledge on the risk factors for hypertension among the secondary school students in Nyamagana district however there knowledge on individual factors was seem to be low to the extent that it needs much attention to the institution concerned. Among other things the practices on modifiable risk factors was unsatisfactory