Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control and Their Associated Socioeconomic Factors in China: A Spatial Analysis of A National Representative Survey

Objective We aimed to investigate and interpret the associations between socioeconomic factors and the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension at the provincial level in China. Methods A nationally and provincially representative sample of 179,059 adults from the China Chronic Disease and Nutrition Surveillance study in 2015-2016 was used to estimate hypertension burden. The spatial Durbin error model was fitted to investigate socioeconomic factors associated with hypertension indicators. Results Overall, it was estimated that 29.20% of the participants were hypertensive nationwide, among whom, 34.32% were aware of their condition, 27.69% had received antihypertensive treatment, and 7.81% had controlled their condition. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was associated with hypertension prevalence (coefficient: -2.95, 95% CI: -5.46, -0.45) and control (coefficient: 6.35, 95% CI: 1.36, 11.34) among adjacent provinces and was also associated with awareness (coefficient: 2.93, 95% CI: 1.12, 4.74) and treatment (coefficient: 2.67, 95% CI: 1.21, 4.14) in local province. Beds of internal medicine (coefficient: 2.66, 95% CI: 1.08, 4.23) was associated with control in local province. Old dependency ratio (coefficient: -3.58, 95% CI: -5.35, -1.81) was associated with treatment among adjacent provinces and with control (coefficient: -1.69, 95% CI: -2.42, -0.96) in local province. Conclusion Hypertension indicators were not only directly influenced by socioeconomic factors of local area but also indirectly affected by characteristics of geographical neighbors. Population-level strategies should involve optimizing supportive socioeconomic environment by integrating clinical care and public health services to decrease hypertension burden.