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Gender differences in hypertension awareness, antihypertensive use and blood pressure control in Nepalese adults: findings from a nationwide cross-sectional survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2019

Rajat Das Gupta Open the ORCID record for Rajat Das Gupta [Opens in a new window] ,
Shams Shabab Haider ,
Ipsita Sutradhar Open the ORCID record for Ipsita Sutradhar [Opens in a new window] ,
Mehedi Hasan ,
Hemraj Joshi ,
Mohammad Rifat Haider  and
Malabika Sarker
Rajat Das Gupta*
Affiliation:
Center for Non-Communicable Diseases and Nutrition, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Center for Science of Implementation & Scale Up, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Shams Shabab Haider
Affiliation:
Center for Science of Implementation & Scale Up, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ipsita Sutradhar
Affiliation:
Center for Non-Communicable Diseases and Nutrition, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Center for Science of Implementation & Scale Up, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mehedi Hasan
Affiliation:
Center for Non-Communicable Diseases and Nutrition, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Center for Science of Implementation & Scale Up, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Hemraj Joshi
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Modern Technical College, Sanepa, Lalitpur, Nepal
Mohammad Rifat Haider
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Public Health, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Ohio University, Athens, USA
Malabika Sarker
Affiliation:
Center for Non-Communicable Diseases and Nutrition, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Center for Science of Implementation & Scale Up, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Institute of Public Health, University of Heidelberg, Germany
*
*Corresponding Author. Email: rajat89.dasgupta@gmail.com
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Abstract

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the gender differences in hypertension awareness, antihypertensive use and blood pressure (BP) control among the adult Nepalese population (≥18 years) using data from the nationally representative Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016. A weighted sample of 13,393 adults (5620 males and 7773 females) was included in the final analysis. After conducting descriptive analyses with the selective explanatory variable, multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between the outcome variable and the explanatory variables. The strength of the association was expressed in adjusted odds with 95% confidence intervals. A higher proportion of women had their BP checked (87.7% females vs 73.0% males, p<0.001) and were aware of their raised BP (43.9% females vs 37.1% males, p<0.001) compared with men. Although female hypertensive individuals had a higher prevalence of antihypertensive medication use than their male counterparts (50.1% females vs 47.5% males), a higher proportion of male hypertensive participants had their BP controlled (49.2% females vs 53.5% males). Women with the poorest wealth index had a lower prevalence of antihypertensive use than their male counterparts. The odds of having their own BP measured increased with age among men but decreased with age among women. The household wealth index was positively associated with the odds of BP measurement, awareness of own BP and antihypertensive use. This study revealed that although women had a higher prevalence of hypertension awareness and antihypertensive medication use, the practice did not translate into better BP control. Inequality in antihypertensive medication use was observed among the poorest wealth quintiles. Public health programmes in Nepal should focus on reducing these inequalities. Further research is needed to learn why females have poorer control of BP, despite having higher antihypertensive medication use.

Keywords

HypertensionMedication adherencedeveloping countries: Nepal
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , May 2020 , pp. 412 - 438
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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Footnotes

#

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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