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:

Trends of hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in rural areas of northern China during 1991–2011

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 28, pages 25–31 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension among rural residents aged 35–74 years in northern China during the country’s rapid economic development from 1991 to 2011. Two surveys, conducted in 1991and 2011, included 2196 and 1939 participants aged 35–74 years from same villages in Ji County, Tianjin of China, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension, adjusted by age and gender using the world standard population in 2000, increased 30% (39.9% vs 51.7%) between 1991 and 2011. The increase was greatest (68%) in women aged 35–44 years. Meanwhile, the prevalence of stage II hypertension increased by 75% overall, with a 4-fold increase in men aged 45–54 years. Although the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension increased significantly during the same period, they remained unacceptably poor. In conclusion, the community-based surveys showed that the prevalence of hypertension in rural residents of northern China aged 35–74 years increased rapidly over the past 20 years, and most dramatically in young women. Efforts in the primary prevention of hypertension, particularly for young women, and promoting education for hypertension awareness, treatment and control are of paramount importance in rural China.

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

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wang L, Kong L, Wu F, Bai Y, Burton R . Preventing chronic diseases in China. Lancet 2005; 366: 1821–1824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kannel WB . Framingham study insights into hypertensive risk of cardiovascular disease. Hypertens Res 1995; 18: 181–196.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Himmelmann A, Hedner T, Hansson L, O'Donnell CJ, Levy D . Isolated systolic hypertension: an important cardiovascular risk factor. Blood Press 1998; 7: 197–207.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Li L (eds). Chinese Residents Nutrition and Health Condition Investigation Report of the Four: Hypertension. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House: Beijing, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  5. The Health Ministry Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Research Center. (eds). China Cardiovascular Disease Report. China Encyclopedia Press: Beijing, 2006.

  6. Hajjar I, Kotchen TA . Trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the United States, 1988–2000. JAMA 2003; 290: 199–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ong KL, Cheung BM, Man YB, Lau CP, Lam KS . Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension among United States adults 1999–2004. Hypertension 2007; 49: 69–75.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Egan BM, Zhao Y, Axon RN . US trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension, 1988–2008. JAMA 2010; 303: 2043–2050.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. McAlister FA, Wilkins K, Joffres M, Leenen FH, Fodor G, Gee M et al. Changes in the rates of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in Canada over the past two decades. CMAJ 2011; 183: 1007–1013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ministries of Health and Science and Technology and the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. (eds). The Nutrition and Health Status of the Chinese People. Beijing: State Information Office: Beijing, 2004.

  11. Meng XJ, Dong GH, Wang D, Liu MM, Lin Q, Tian S et al. Prevalence, awareness, treatment, control, and risk factors associated with hypertension in urban adults from 33 communities of China: The CHPSNE study. J Hypertens 2011; 29: 1303–1310.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Gu D, Reynolds K, Wu X, Chen J, Duan X, Muntner P et al. Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in China. Hypertension 2002; 40: 920–927.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Dong GH, Sun ZQ, Zhang XZ, Li JJ, Zheng LQ, Li J et al. Prevalence, awareness, treatment & control of hypertension in rural Liaoning province, China. Indian J Med Res 2008; 128: 122–127.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, Cushman WC, Green LA, Izzo JL et al. The seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of high blood pressure: The JNC 7 report. JAMA 2003; 289: 2560–2572.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Li H, Meng Q, Sun X, Salter A, Briggs NE, Hiller JE . Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in rural China: results from Shandong province. J Hypertens 2010; 28: 432–438.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Cai L, Liu A, Zhang L, Li S, Wang P . Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension among adults in Beijing, China. Clin Exp Hypertens 2012; 34: 45–52.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Wang Z, Wu Y, Zhao L, Li Y, Yang J, Zhou B . Trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in the middle-aged population of China, 1992-1998. Hypertens Res 2004; 27: 703–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Reynolds K, Gu D, Muntner P, Wu X, Chen J, Huang G et al. Geographic variations in the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in China. J Hypertens 2003; 21: 1273–1281.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Redondo A, Benach J, Subirana I, Martinez JM, Munoz MA, Masia R et al. Trends in the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of cardiovascular risk factors across educational level in the 1995-2005 period. Ann Epidemiol 2011; 21: 555–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Burt VL, Cutler JA, Higgins M, Horan MJ, Labarthe D, Whelton P et al. Trends in the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the adult US population. Data from the health examination surveys, 1960 to 1991. Hypertension 1995; 26: 60–69.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Lawes CM, Vander Hoorn S, Law MR, Elliott P, MacMahon S, Rodgers A . Blood pressure and the global burden of disease 2000. Part ii: estimates of attributable burden. J Hypertens 2006; 24: 423–430.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Tu K, Chen Z, Lipscombe LL . Prevalence and incidence of hypertension from 1995 to 2005: A population-based study. CMAJ 2008; 178: 1429–1435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. UK Prospective Diabetes Study Group. Tight blood pressure control and risk of macrovascular and microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes: UKPDS 38. BMJ 1998; 317: 703–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Curb JD, Pressel SL, Cutler JA, Savage PJ, Applegate WB, Black H et al. Effect of diuretic-based antihypertensive treatment on cardiovascular disease risk in older diabetic patients with isolated systolic hypertension. Systolic hypertension in the Elderly Program Cooperative Research Group. JAMA 1996; 276: 1886–1892.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Staessen JA, Gasowski J, Wang JG, Thijs L, Den Hond E, Boissel JP et al. Risks of untreated and treated isolated systolic hypertension in the elderly: meta-analysis of outcome trials. Lancet 2000; 355: 865–872.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Lewington S, Clarke R, Qizilbash N, Peto R, Collins R . Age-specific relevance of usual blood pressure to vascular mortality: a meta-analysis of individual data for one million adults in 61 prospective studies. Lancet 2002; 360: 1903–1913.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Kearney PM, Whelton M, Reynolds K, Muntner P, Whelton PK, He J . Global burden of hypertension: Analysis of worldwide data. Lancet 2005; 365: 217–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Estoppey D, Paccaud F, Vollenweider P, Marques-Vidal P . Trends in self-reported prevalence and management of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes in Swiss adults, 1997-2007. BMC Public Health 2011; 11: 114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. World Health Organization. Noncommunicable diseases country profiles 2011. Available at http://www.Who.Int/nmh/publications/ncd_profiles2011/en/.

  30. Gupta R, Pandey RM, Misra A, Agrawal A, Misra P, Dey S et al. High prevalence and low awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in Asian Indian women. J Hum Hypertens 2011; 26: 585–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Salt intake of residents from Tianjin. Berhai Morning Post 2011. Available at http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/dfpd/tianjin/2011-08-15/content_3498295.html.

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the residents of Ji County who have participated this study, and all local medical care professionals, for their enthusiasm, tireless work and sustained support. We also thank P. Minick and N. Su for their assistance. This study was supported in part by the National People’s Republic of China Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health through the 7th, 8th and 10th National Five-Year Key Research Plan (contracts 85-915-01-01, 85-915-01-02 and 2001BA703B01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuro-Epidemiology, Tianjin, Neurological Institute, Tianjin, China

    J Wang, X Ning & J Tu

  2. Department of Neurology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China

    J Wang, X Ning, L Yang, H Lu, J Tu & W Jin

  3. Department of Cardiovascular Disease, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China

    W Zhang

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, China

    T-C Su

Authors
  1. J Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. X Ning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. L Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. J Tu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. W Jin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. W Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. T-C Su
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to J Wang or T-C Su.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wang, J., Ning, X., Yang, L. et al. Trends of hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in rural areas of northern China during 1991–2011. J Hum Hypertens 28, 25–31 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2013.44

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2013.44

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links