Background: This study aims to determine the validity of self-reported hypertension and identify factors affecting the disagreement between self-reported hypertension and objective measures of blood pressure among adults in Vietnam.
Materials and methods: A total of 4,219 people aged 18 and older reported their hypertension status and had their blood pressure measured. The inter-reliability between self-reported and measured hypertension was assessed using Cohen's Kappa statistics. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine the affecting factors of disagreement.
Result: Self-reported hypertension prevalence was 13.2% (557/4,219), while measured hypertension was 20.9% (881/4,219). An agreement between self-reported and measured data was moderate for the hypertension of participants (κ = 0.39, 95% CI 0.36-0.43). Self-reported hypertension showed high specificity (93.9%) (95% CI 93.0-94.7) but low sensitivity (40.1%; 95 CI 36.8-43.4). The percentage of disagreement in hypertension (number of false positives and false negatives between self-reported and measured data) among adults in Vietnam was 17.3%.
Conclusion: Our findings showed there was a high disagreement percentage of hypertension between self-reported and measured data. This is the first report of this issue to warn of health risks if high blood pressure is not detected early. The disagreement of hypertension was observed more frequently in men, people older than 40, minority ethnic groups, farmers, and people with a BMI greater than 25 kg/m2.
Keywords: Adults; Disagreement; Hypertension; Self-reported; Validity; Vietnam.
Researchers often ask people to answer questions about their own health problems, such as high blood pressure, to study the effects of these conditions. People often provide self-reported information in response to this inquiry. However, this information might not be accurate. Therefore, it is preferable to use biological data, which involves having blood pressure checked by a machine.In this study, the self-reported hypertension of adults in Vietnam was compared to measured blood pressure data. We found that, whereas only 13.2% of respondents reported having high blood pressure, the measured blood pressure by machine revealed that 20.9% of respondents had the condition. The study also discovered that some elements, including age, gender, ethnicity, BMI, smoking status, and drinking, were associated with the discrepancy between self-reported and measured hypertension among participants.This study demonstrates that it is unreliable to estimate the prevalence of high blood pressure in Vietnam using self-reported data. According to the study, including biological tests in social surveys can increase data accuracy and clarify societal health disparities. The study suggests that to avoid and identify these health issues early, people should obtain more health education and undergo routine physicals.