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Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in Taiwan: results of Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT) 1993–1996

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 15, pages 793–798 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to describe hypertension status in Taiwan using data from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT) 1993–1996, which adopted a clustered stratified multistage sampling scheme. A total of 4838 males and 4876 females aged 4 years and above were interviewed and examined corresponding to a response rate of 74%. Almost all of them (97.5%) had blood pressures measured. The results show that the mean blood pressure of adult males was higher than that of adult females below 45 years of age. After that, the pattern was reversed. When defined by JNC IV criteria (SBP/DBP ⩾160/95 mm Hg or taking antihypertensive drugs), the prevalence was 13% in adult males (⩾19 years) and 12% in adult females. When defined by JNC VI criteria (SBP/DBP ⩾140/90 mm Hg or taking antihypertensive drugs), the prevalence was 26% in adult males and 19% in adult females. The prevalence in the mountainous area, was the highest among the seven survey strata. Under the JNC IV definition, 43% males and 53% females with hypertension knew their disease status, 31% of males and 45% of females took medicine for it, and 15% of males and 22% of females had their blood pressure under control. Percentages of awareness, treatment, and control were much lower with the JNC V definition, which was introduced toward the end of survey period. People in metropolitan areas had the highest rates of awareness, treatment, control, and compliance to medication.

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Acknowledgements

Appreciation should go to all the dedicated field workers and those who helped facilitate the field works in every survey site. This survey was sponsored by the Department of Health in Taiwan (DOH FN8202, DOH-84-FS-11, DOH-85-FS-11, DOH-86-FS-11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    W-H Pan & W-T Yeh

  2. Graduate Institute of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    W-H Pan

  3. Division of Health Policy Research, National Health Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan

    H-Y Chang

  4. Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Taiwan

    S-Y Hsiao

  5. Department of Politics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Y-T Hung

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  1. W-H Pan
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  2. H-Y Chang
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  4. S-Y Hsiao
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  5. Y-T Hung
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Correspondence to W-H Pan.

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Pan, WH., Chang, HY., Yeh, WT. et al. Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in Taiwan: results of Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT) 1993–1996. J Hum Hypertens 15, 793–798 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001268

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