A hipertensão arterial em agentes comunitários de saúde

Abstract

Hypertension is considered a silent disease and the most prevalent cardiovascular disease in Brazil. Considered to be a public health problem within non communicable chronic diseases, it is responsible for the large increase in community morbidity and mortality. Lifestyle changes are critical to therapeutic progress and disease prevention, such as regular physical activity, reduced salt consumption, cessation of tobacco use, and restricted use of alcohol. The general objective of this study was to analyze the association of arterial hypertension with occupational factors and lifestyle among the Community Health Agents of the city of Juiz de Fora - MG; The specific ones are: to describe the sociodemographic profile, the occupational factors and the lifestyle of the Community Health Agents; To identify the prevalence of hypertension among these professionals. This is a cross-sectional study, a study of "Primary Health Care Workers: Working and Living Conditions", in which 400 community health agents participated. Data collection was done through a questionnaire-interview Applied by interviewers from July to October 2015 and from October 2016 to February 2017. The results show that the study population was composed mostly of women (91,2%), the mean age being 46 years; 46,3% declared themselves white, 65,3% had completed high school and 57,5% were married or lived in a stable union. Regarding arterial hypertension, 70,8% of the workers report not having the medical diagnosis of this pathology. Regarding life and health habits, 43,6% were considered very active, 89,8% had a low alcohol consumption and 94,3% had a very low degree of dependence on tobacco. Already related to psychosocial stress, 32,5% were in the category of high labor demand, which is considered to be the most harmful to the health of the worker. Regarding work, we found a power of significance regarding day shift and working time in Primary Health Care. Those who declared that they only work during the day shift and those who have the most working time in Primary Health Care are workers More predisposing to hypertension. There was no statistically significant difference between sociodemographic variables, life and health habits, and arterial hypertension.