Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in various ethnic groups (Hui, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Tajik) in Xinjiang, Northwest China

Purpose: Credible data is scarce in representative population aged ≥18 years, though hypertension is highly prevalent and poorly controlled in population aged ≥30 years in Xinjiang Northwest China. Therefore, we tried to provide data on hypertension status for reference.

Materials and methods: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey between 2014 and 2015 using stratified multi-stage random sampling as part of a national survey. Hypertension is defined as systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥140 mmHg, and/or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg and/or taking anti-hypertensive agents. We assessed prevalence, awareness, treatment and control rates of hypertension by rural and urban regions, by gender and by ethnicity, and related factors including agent prescription pattern.

Results: Data for 6807 subjects ≥18 years with 79.2% rural and 52.0% women subjects are analyzed. Overall age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension in population aged ≥18 years is 22.2%, and shows no disparity between genders and regions. By ethnicity, the prevalence of hypertension was the highest in Tajik subjects (25.4%), followed by Mongolian (25.3%) and Kazakh (24.8%) subjects and the lowest in Kyrgyz (20.2%) subjects. Of the hypertensives, 55.5% have awareness, 43.9% receive anti-hypertensive treatment, whereas only 14.5% have their BP controlled. In different ethnic groups, the awareness, control and control in treatment rates showed no significant disparities, except for the treatment rate. It was the highest in Kazakh subjects (50.0%) and the lowest in Hui subjects (36.7%). The most common prescribed agent encompassed ACEI/ARBs (41.1%) and calcium channel blockers (30.4%). Over 87.2% of hypertensives were prescribed for single drug regimen.

Conclusions: Hypertension is moderately prevalent in Xinjiang, whereas poorly controlled. Standardization of its treatment such as introducing treatment algorithm might be the priorities for future improvement, with healthy life promotion.