Document Type
Article
Abstract
Objective
While gender differences in hypertension and increased prevalence rates among women at midlife have been documented in multiple settings, the evidence on the Arab world has not been systematically examined. This review summarizes the evidence related to gender disparities in midlife hypertension in this region.
Methods
We searched MEDLINE and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) databases for studies, published between January 2000 and August 2015, on hypertension in the 22 countries of the Arab region. We abstracted information on the prevalence of hypertension among women and men, in general populations during midlife.
Results
Nineteen studies provided data on the prevalence of hypertension by gender and age in the Arab world. Higher rates of hypertension were found among Arab women at midlife in most countries. In studies that included subjects younger than 35 years old, a decrease in sex ratios (M/F) at midlife was observed in all countries except Palestine. Higher female prevalence rates are observed in the 4th decade of life in most countries of the region, almost two decades earlier than in other parts of the world.
Conclusions
This review highlights the need for more systematic examinations of hypertension in the Arab region, its risk factors, and the reasons for the particular patterns of gender differences that are observed. Such research would have considerable implications for prevention, treatment, and improved well-being.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in Women's Midlife Health, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2017.
Rights
© The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
APA Citation
Akl, C., Akik, C., Ghattas, H., & Obermeyer, C. M. (2017). Gender disparities in midlife hypertension: a review of the evidence on the Arab region. Women’s Midlife Health, 3(1).https://doi.org/10.1186/s40695-017-0020-z