Global Journal of Medical Research, F: Diseases, Volume 23 Issue 2

II. M ethod a) Design This is a cross-sectional, analytical study with a quantitative, population-based approach. The study was conducted in a primary health unit in the municipality of Barreiras in the state of Bahia, in the northeast region of Brazil. The unit is a reference in its area for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of patients with hypertension. The sample was determined based on the patients linked to this health unit using the simple random sampling method. All patients in the hypertensive follow-up program were considered for the study. As the number of hypertensive patients (n) monitored by the health unit was known (70 patients), all were invited to participate in the study. To calculate the sample size a confidence level (z) of 95% was used, a standard deviation (p) of 0.5, and a margin of error (e) of +/- 5%, being estimated 60 participants. Size = [z 2 xp (1- p)] /e 2 /1+[ z 2 xp (1-p)]/ e 2 xn The inclusion period comprised October 2019 to May 2020, and there was no impact or risk to participants due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals over 18 and hypertensive patients enrolled in the health unit were included after their written consent. Patients with cancer undergoing treatment in the last five years, the presence of viral hepatitis or HIV infections, rheumatologic diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, pregnant women, and chronic users of steroids were not considered for the study. The demographic information of each patient and the risk factors for a cardiovascular disease they presented were collected. These factors were the presence of dyslipidemia, diabetes, smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and occurrence of coronary artery disease. A blood pressure measurement for staging their disease was performed according to the Brazilian Hypertension guideline (2) . The laboratory variables evaluated to determine renal function were serum creatinine, assessed by the modified Jaffé reaction. The estimative of the glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was performed by the CKD-EPI equation (9, 14) . The identification of chronic kidney disease (CKD) was defined as the eGFR of less than 90 ml/min/1.73m2, according to KDIGO (10) . The Framingham scale was used to measure the cardiovascular risk of each patient (11-13) . Each patient's inflammatory status was assessed by measuring ultra-sensitive C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), serum ferritin, and serum 25- OH-vitamin D. These parameters were measured by electrochemiluminescence. b) Statistical Analysis For the statistical analysis, the SPSS v21.0 software was used. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to verify the uniformity of the data. Non-parametric tests were used to allow the analysis of variables with different distributions. Statistical analyses were sequentially adjusted for the following confounding factors: 1) mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables; 2) percentage for qualitative variables, except for variables describing inflammatory markers, which were described as mean, standard deviation, median, 25th and 75th percentiles, minimum and maximum. Spearman's correlation analyzed the relationships between quantitative variables, and the chi-square test was used for qualitative variables. A significance level of 0.05 (5%) was defined for this study. A logistic regression model was constructed to evaluate the predictive variables for hypertension and high cardiovascular (CV) risk development. Regardless of their significance, all quantifiable and non-quantifiable variables were used in the statistical analysis of the studied sample. The study followed the STROBE systematization for cross-sectional studies. The study was approved under number 3.286.842, issued by the local ethics committee. III. R esults Table 1 presents the descriptive data of the characteristics of the sample. Seventy participants were invited to participate in the study, of which 61 answered the call, and all 61 individuals met the inclusion criteria. Thus every participant was included, and no data was lost. The participants involved in this research had a mean age of 58±11 years, 56% female. Table 1: Demographic characterization of the sample and cardiovascular risk factors in Barreiras, Bahia, Brazil, 2020 30 Year 2023 Global Journal of Medical Research Volume XXIII Issue II Version I ( DD ) F © 2023 Global Journals Inflammatory Markers and Risk Factors in Hypertensive Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study Variables Participants (n=61) Age years) 58±11 Weight (Kg) 71.7±13.1 Height (m) 1.6±0.1 Waist circumference (cm) 95.3±9.4