Prevalence and risk factors for isolated untreated systolic hypertension in rural Mongolian and Han populations

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlative risk factors of isolated untreated systolic hypertension and other hypertension subtypes among Mongolians and Han rural adults of China. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study was conducted in 2004-2006 and used a multistage cluster sampling method to select a representative sample. A total of 41,356 people who did not take antihypertensive drugs during the last 2 weeks and aged 35 years or older were examined. A survey on blood pressure and associated risk factors was carried out. Overall, 10.2% of rural adults had isolated systolic hypertension, 6.3% had isolated diastolic hypertension and 15.3% had systolo-diastolic hypertension (Han: 9.8%, 6.2%, 14.7%; Mongolians: 11.6%, 6.4%, 17.6%, respectively). The prevalence of ISH and SDH increased with age. Mongolians had a higher prevalence of ISH and SDH than Han people. Age, gender, BMI, and salt intake were risk factors of ISH and SDH both for Han people and Mongolians. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension was very common in rural people of China, and it was associated with many risk factors. These results place great emphasis on the urgent need for a public health programme to improve the detection, prevention and treatment of hypertension in the rural population of China.