Background: The aims were to characterize the prevalence of hypertension (HTN) and explore its associations in the northern mountainous.
Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study in two communes in Chiem Hoa district, Tuyen Quang province, between June and November 2017. All subjects at the age of 18 years and over currently living in two communes. The usage of the descriptive statistics was to characterize the HTN prevalence. We used the univariate and multivariate models of logistic regression to determine the prevalence and related factors of HTN.
Results: There were 319 people with overall HTN in the total of 675 participants. Among people with HTN, there were 101 ones with isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). The proportion of HTN among the Tay ethnic group was 47.6%. The factors related to HTN included group, body mass index (BMI), low physical fitness, and waist-hip ratio (WHR). These factors as well as the ethnicity were significantly associated with ISH.
Conclusions: Two communes of Chiem Hoa district in Tuyen Quang province had a high prevalence of HTN. Age, BMI, WHR, and physical activity were the risk factors of overall HTN and ISH. In particular, ISH was affected by ethnicity.