J Prev Med Public Health.  2011 Mar;44(2):74-83. 10.3961/jpmph.2011.44.2.74.

Awareness, Treatment and Control of Hypertension and Related Factors in the Jurisdictional Areas of Primary Health Care Posts in a Rural Community of Korea

• Lee HM
• Kim YM
• Lee CH
• Shin JH
• Kim MK
• Choi BY

• KMID: 1003042
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3961/jpmph.2011.44.2.74

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to identify and assess the factors related to the awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension based on jurisdictional areas of primary health care posts in a rural community of Korea.
METHODS
This study was performed on 4598 adults aged over 30 years in a rural community and we measured their blood pressure (BP) from October. 2007 to August. 2009. Hypertension is defined as a condition characterized by a systolic BP > or =140 mmHg, a diastolic BP > or =90 mmHg or reported treatment with antihypertensive medications. We analyzed the factors related with the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension using chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS
The age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension was 34.7%. The age-adjusted rates of hypertension awareness, treatment and control were 50.6%, 93.9% and 64.1%, respectively. Awareness of hypertension was related with increasing age. Higher awareness was found among men who were felt more stress, were obese and had hypercholesterolemia, and among women who were regulary taking medicine for hypertension, were obese and had diabetes mellitus. In women, the hypertension treatment was related a Medical aid and education for hypertension management. Controlled hypertension was more common among men who were educated about the management of hypertension and among women who had hypercholesterolemia.
CONCLUSIONS
The awareness of hypertension was low and the control of hypertension was high compared with the nationwide data (KNHANES 2005). The results suggest that understanding the characteristics of hypertension in a community is important to perform a community based hypertension control program.

Keyword

Awareness; Control; Hypertension; Prevalence; Rural community; Treatment

MeSH Terms

Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ambulatory Care Facilities
Antihypertensive Agents/therapeutic use
Blood Pressure
Diabetes Complications
Female
Humans
Hypercholesterolemia/complications
Hypertension/drug therapy/epidemiology/*prevention & control
Interviews as Topic
Logistic Models
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity/complications
Republic of Korea
Risk Factors
Rural Population
Sex Factors
Stress, Psychological/complications