UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Quantitative Health Sciences

Publication Date

2013-06-27

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Cardiology | Cardiovascular Diseases | Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Health Services Research | International Public Health | Public Health Education and Promotion

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Vietnam and hypertension (HTN) is an important and prevalent risk factor for CVD in the adult Vietnamese population. Despite an increasing prevalence of HTN in this country, information about the awareness, treatment, and control of HTN is limited. The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of HTN, and factors associated with these endpoints, in residents of a mountainous province in Vietnam.

METHODS: Data from 2,368 adults (age > /=25 years) participating in a population-based survey conducted in 2011 in Thai Nguyen province were analyzed. All eligible participants completed a structured questionnaire and were examined by community health workers using a standardized protocol.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of HTN in this population was 23%. Older age, male sex, and being overweight were associated with a higher odds of having HTN, while higher educational level was associated with a lower odds of having HTN. Among those with HTN, only 34% were aware of their condition, 43% of those who were aware they had HTN received treatment and, of these, 39% had their HTN controlled.

CONCLUSIONS: Nearly one in four adults in Thai Nguyen is hypertensive, but far fewer are aware of this condition and even fewer have their blood pressure adequately controlled. Public health strategies increasing awareness of HTN in the community, as well as improvements in the treatment and control of HTN, remain needed to reduce the prevalence of HTN and related morbidity and mortality.

Rights and Permissions

Copyright: © 2013 Ha et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

DOI of Published Version

10.1371/journal.pone.0066792

Source

PLoS One. 2013 Jun 27;8(6):e66792. Print 2013. Link to article on publisher's site

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

Journal/Book/Conference Title

PloS one

PubMed ID

23826134

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