The multi-country May Measurement Month (MMM) screening campaign aims to raise awareness on blood pressure (BP) and
hypertension in individuals and communities, and measure BP, ideally, of those who had
no BP measurement in the preceding year. We here report key findings from the Cameroon arm of MMM 2019. An opportunistic sample of adults (≥18 years) was included from 5 May to 5 June 2019 across 15 sites (markets, churches, homes, motor parks, workplaces, and hospitals/clinics). Data collection, cleaning, the definition of
hypertension, and statistical analysis followed the standard protocol. The mean age of the 30 187 participants screened was 36.9 (SD: 14.9) years, 50.4% were female (5% of whom were pregnant), and 94.4% were screened out of the hospital/clinic settings. After multiple imputation of missing data, 6286 (20.8%) had
hypertension, 24.0% were taking
antihypertensive medication, and 705 (11.2%) of all participants with
hypertension had controlled BP. In linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, and
antihypertensive medicines use, a previous diagnosis of
hypertension, a history of
stroke, and use of
antihypertensive medicines were significant predictors of systolic and diastolic BP levels. BPs were also significantly higher when measured in public outdoors, public indoors (diastolic BP only), workplaces, and other unspecified areas compared to hospitals/clinic settings. MMM19 is the largest ever BP screening campaign in a single month, in Cameroon and despite the limitations resulting from non-random sample selection, the opportunistic screening allows access to awareness and screening for
hypertension out of the hospital/clinic settings.