Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Perception of uncontrolled blood pressure and behaviours to improve blood pressure: findings from the 2009 Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 26, pages 188–195 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Individuals with hypertension should lower and maintain their blood pressure levels through lifestyle modification and/or pharmacotherapy. To determine whether perception of blood pressure control is related to behaviours and intentions for improving blood pressure, data from 6142 Canadians age 20+ years with self-reported hypertension were analysed. Relationships between perception of control, current behaviours for blood pressure control and intentions to improve these behaviours were examined. Although individuals who reported uncontrolled blood pressure were equally likely to report engaging in lifestyle behaviours for blood pressure control, they were more likely to indicate an intention to improve their health, compared with those who reported well-controlled/low blood pressure. These individuals were also less likely to report having enough information to control their blood pressure. In addition, they were less likely to report having been advised to take antihypertensive medication, and to be taking and adhering to medications. Individuals who perceive their blood pressure as uncontrolled have intentions to make health-enhancing changes but may lack the information to do so. The study highlights the potential need for programmes/services to help those with uncontrolled blood pressure make lifestyle changes and/or take appropriate medication.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wilkins K, Campbell NR, Joffres MR, McAlister FA, Nichol ME, Quach S et al. Blood pressure in Canadian adults. Health Rep 2010; 21 (1): 37–46.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Public Health Agency of Canada. Tracking Heart Disease and Stroke in Canada. Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, 2009. Available at: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/2009/cvd-avc/pdf/cvd-avs-2009-eng.pdf.

  3. Canadian Hypertension Education Program Campbell N, Kwong MM . 2010 Canadian hypertension education program recommendations: an annual update. Can Fam Physician 2010; 56 (7): 649–653.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Statistics Canada. Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada User Guide. Statistics Canada, Ottawa, 2009. Available at: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5160&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2.

  5. Rust KF, Rao JN . Variance estimation for complex surveys using replication techniques. Stat Methods Med Res 1996; 5 (3): 283–310.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lawes CM, Vander Hoorn S, Rodgers A . Global burden of blood-pressure-related disease, 2001. Lancet 2008; 371 (9623): 1513–1518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Onysko J, Maxwell C, Eliasziw M, Zhang JX, Johansen H, Campbell NR et al. Large increases in hypertension diagnosis and treatment in Canada after a healthcare professional education program. Hypertension 2006; 48 (5): 853–860.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Chobanian AV . Shattuck lecture. The hypertension paradox--more uncontrolled disease despite improved therapy. N Engl J Med 2009; 361 (9): 878–887.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Touyz RM, Campbell N, Logan A, Gledhill N, Petrella R, Padwal R et al. The 2004 Canadian recommendations for the management of hypertension: part III--lifestyle modifications to prevent and control hypertension. Can J Cardiol 2004; 20 (1): 55–59.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Prochaska JO, Butterworth S, Redding CA, Burden V, Perrin N, Leo M et al. Initial efficacy of MI, TTM tailoring and HRI's with multiple behaviors for employee health promotion. Prev Med 2008; 46 (3): 226–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Blackburn DG . Establishing an effective framework for physical activity counseling in primary care settings. Nutr Clin Care 2002; 5 (3): 95–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Clark MM, Pera V, Goldstein MG, Thebarge RW, Guise BJ . Counseling strategies for obese patients. Am J Prev Med 1996; 12 (4): 266–270.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Steptoe A, Kerry S, Rink E, Hilton S . The impact of behavioral counseling on stage of change in fat intake, physical activity, and cigarette smoking in adults at increased risk of coronary heart disease. Am J Public Health 2001; 91 (2): 265–269.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. WHO. The urban environment. Available at: http://www.who.int/heli/risks/urban/urbanenv/en, Accessed 9/7/2010, 2010.

  15. Stairway to health: welcome—public health agency of Canada. Available at: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/sth-evs/english/index-eng.php. Accessed 9/7/2010, 2010.

  16. Commuter Challenge. Available at: http://www.commuterchallenge.ca/. Accessed 9/7/2010, 2010.

  17. Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on Sodium Reduction—Health Canada. Available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/sodium/sodium-working-travail-group-eng.php. Accessed 9/7/2010, 2010.

  18. World Health Organization. Interventions on Diet and Physical Activity: What Works, Summary report World Health Organization, 2009, Geneva. Available at: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/summary-report-09.pdf.

  19. Turnbull F, Neal B, Algert C, Chalmers J, Chapman N, Cutler J et al. Effects of different blood pressure-lowering regimens on major cardiovascular events in individuals with and without diabetes mellitus: results of prospectively designed overviews of randomized trials. Arch Intern Med 2005; 165 (12): 1410–1419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Campbell NR, So L, Amankwah E, Quan H, Maxwell C . Characteristics of hypertensive Canadians not receiving drug therapy. Can J Cardiol 2008; 24 (6): 485–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Park J, Campese V . Clinical characteristics of resistant hypertension: the importance of compliance and the role of diagnostic evaluation in delineating pathogenesis. J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich) 2007; 9 (1 Suppl 1): 7–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Rose AJ, Berlowitz DR, Manze M, Orner MB, Kressin NR . Intensifying therapy for hypertension despite suboptimal adherence. Hypertension 2009; 54 (3): 524–529.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Schroeder K, Fahey T . Improving adherence to drugs for hypertension. BMJ 2007; 335 (7628): 1002–1003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    M E Gee, C M Bancej, C Robitaille, A Bienek & S Dai

  2. Departments of Medicine, Community Health Sciences and Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    N R C Campbell

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    M R Joffres

  4. Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    R L Walker

  5. Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia and Primary Care and Community Research Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    J Kaczorowski

Authors
  1. M E Gee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. N R C Campbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C M Bancej
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C Robitaille
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. A Bienek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. M R Joffres
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. R L Walker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. J Kaczorowski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. S Dai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M E Gee.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gee, M., Campbell, N., Bancej, C. et al. Perception of uncontrolled blood pressure and behaviours to improve blood pressure: findings from the 2009 Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada. J Hum Hypertens 26, 188–195 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.5

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links