Background Hypertension is recognised as a major contributor to disease burden globally affecting 20% of adult population. More importantly it has become a significant problem in many developing countries experiencing epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable chronic diseases.

Objective The study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension among Bangladeshi adult population by meta-analysis.

Method In this meta-analysis the articles published during the period from 1995 to 2009 on the prevalence of hypertension among Bangladeshi adult population were identified by MEDLINE search included. We included those population based studies for this meta-analysis who clearly defined the diagnostic definition of hypertension and the age group (≥18 years). We could locate thirteen articles, among them seven articles were excluded from the current analysis because they did not fulfil our selection criteria. Then the prevalence of hypertension and their 95% CIs (p±1.96√pq/n) for the individual studies were calculated by using the data presented. Finally a pooled estimate was obtained from six studies.

Result The pooled estimates for the prevalence of hypertension in 6430 adults are 13.5% (with 95% CI 12.66% to 14.34%).

Conclusion This meta-analysis clearly demonstrated that 13.5% adult population were at risk to develop cardiovascular and kidney diseases and this underscored the importance of screening of asymptomatic yet potentially harmful hypertensive disorders to combat the growing epidemic of Non-communicable Diseases.

Recommendation Large scale studies can be done including all the high risk population to represent the actual scenario of hypertension in Bangladeshi adult population.