Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension due to its high prevalence and its relation to cardiac disease is considered a major problem in industrialized countries its prevalence varies in different countries and in various regions within a country. The purpose of the present study is to determine the size of the problem and its distribution in a study population being educated using community-based medicine in Kermanshah in 2005. Material and Methods: For the study, 8495 persons (1957 families) were randomly selected as the subjects they were medically examined by a team including two general practitioners and a health worker, and were evaluated for blood pressure, height and weight, history of high blood pressure and taking of anti-hypertension drugs the 5147 subjects were aged over 15-years. Each subject's blood pressure were recorded once in sitting position using a sphygmomanometer. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency percentage, mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (T-test and