[Analysing hypertension in France : A call for an intersectional approach of the cascade of care]

Abstract

In metropolitan France, estimates suggest that more than one in three adults has hypertension. Low-cost treatments are available, yet fewer than one in four hypertensive adults has a controlled level of hypertension below 140/90 mmHg. This rate is higher in other high-income countries such as Canada (65%) or Germany (52%). Using a 'cascade of care' model, that decomposes the hypertension care continuum in awareness, treatment, and control, provides a better understanding of the origins of poor control. Furthermore, the theoretical framework of intersectionality, which simultaneously considers social positions of gender, class, and ethno-racial origin, could be used to understand the complexity of the social inequalities observed in hypertension-related outcomes. In this article we conducted a critical review of the international literature to identify new lines of analyses that could be applied to examine complex inequalities in France.

Keywords: Cascade de soins; Cascade of care; Health inequalities; Hypertension; Intersectionality; Intersectionnalité; Inégalités de santé; Inégalités sociales; Social inequalities.