Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment and Control of Hypertension in Northern China: a Cross-Sectional Study

Background : Hypertension has always been a worldwide health concern. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates of hypertension among adult residents of northern China, where people usually have a high-fat, high-salt diet and heavy alcohol consumption. Methods : Through the Early Screening and Comprehensive Intervention Project for High Risk Groups of Cardiovascular Diseases in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of northern China, we collected data of 70,380 residents, from September 2015 to June 2017. We assessed the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the total population and subpopulations. Results : Among participants, only 13.4% had optimal blood pressure levels. About 55.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 55.3%–56.1%) of the participants had hypertension. The national standardized and the regional standardized prevalence rate was 49.4% and 55.4%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed that old age, male, Han, living in rural, farmer, current drinker, not married, diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia were associated with hypertension. In addition, the awareness, treatment, control and control under treatment rate of hypertension were 52.8% (95% CI: 52.3%–53.3%), 43.3% (95% CI: 42.8%–43.8%), 8.6% (95% CI: 8.3%–8.9%) and 19.8% (95% CI: 19.2%–20.4%), respectively. And the 70,380 population subgroups varied with respect to hypertension prevalence (range 32.6%-73.4%), awareness (35.1%-76.2%), treatment (24.9%-64.6%), control (3.9%-20.4%), and control under treatment (11.2%-31.6%). Controlled hypertension were less common in those younger age, Mongol, not married, farmer and current drinker. Conclusion : Most patients of hypertension are going undetected and uncontrolled in northern China. Even if patients with hypertension are under treatment, hypertension can remain inadequately controlled.