Changes in Hypertension-Related Knowledge and Behavior and Their Associations with Socioeconomic Status among Recently Urbanized Residents in China: 2013–2016

Abstract

The rapid urbanization in China has brought with it some health benefits, but it also brought about a negative influence on the lifestyle of residents. We conducted this study to assess the change in hypertension-related knowledge and behavior from 2013 to 2016 among recently urbanized residents and determine their association with socioeconomic status (SES). This research used data from two cross-sectional studies conducted in Hezuo community in Chengdu, Sichuan province of China. A total of 2268 and 2601 individuals, respectively, participated and completed standard questionnaires. According to the results, the median (IQR) scores of health knowledge was 1 (0,3) and 3 (1,5), respectively, (p < 0.001) and the median (IQR) scores of health behavior was 6 (5,6) and 5 (5,6), respectively, (p < 0.001) in 2013 and 2016. The rate of sufficient knowledge increased from 8.8% to 18.1% (p < 0.001), while the rate of correct behavior decreased from 54.5% to 45.5% (p < 0.001) in three years. Logistic regression analysis showed that higher education was associated with sufficient hypertension-related knowledge (p < 0.05), and those with higher education, unemployment, and retirement were more likely to have sufficient behavior (p < 0.05). The impact of SES on knowledge was stable between 2013 and 2016. The behavior difference between the middle school educated and the illiterate increased from 2013 to 2016 (p < 0.05), and the behavior difference between the unemployed and manual workers decreased from 2013 to 2016 (p < 0.05). Our results revealed that hypertension-related knowledge improved with no corresponding improvement in self-reported behavior among recently urbanized residents from 2013 to 2016. Organizational strategy should be implemented to improve health education on knowledge, and what is more, translate knowledge into behavior. All these measures should be given more attention to the lower educated and manual workers among recently urbanized residents to eliminate the SES disparity.

Trends in population blood pressure and prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension among older persons: The 2006 & 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia

“…This study found that being unemployed or retired is significantly associated with greater hypertension awareness and treatment. This is consistent with a previous study from China [36], which found that unemployed and retired respondents had higher odds of hypertension related behavior than employed workers. Employment is always thought to have a positive impact on health but unemployment is not always harmful.…”

“…It may lead to poorer access to care, lack of knowledge and awareness of the consequence of uncontrolled hypertension. Similarly, a recent study from China found that the higher educated respondents were more likely to have adequate hypertension related knowledge and behavior to enable them to access, evaluate, utilize and obtain important health knowledge [36]. Well-educated respondents were more likely to adopt health behavior based changes easily and have better resources to improve health behavior including a better social support.…”

Health motivations and perceived barriers are determinants of self-care behaviour for the prevention of hypertension in a Malaysian community

“…This was inconsistent with previous studies reporting a positive influence of knowledge about hypertension on blood pressure control [ 24 , 43 ]. A lack of association between hypertension knowledge and self-care behaviour has previously been observed in China’s urban residents, indicating that knowledge may be a better predictor for treatment adherence in hypertensive patients but not for preventive measures in the general community [ 22 , 23 ]. These differences highlighted that different approaches should be considered when developing and executing blood pressure control programs depending on the goal of prevention or treatment of hypertension.…”

“…These six factors can be modified by sociodemographic variables (such as age, sex, level of education) or psychological characteristics (such as personality), while cue to action can modify health behaviours. In the present study, self-efficacy and hypertension knowledge were included in the model based on its known association with the adoption of hypertension self-care behaviour [15,17,[22][23][24][25][26][27]. Out of these six factors, perceived susceptibility was found to be the weakest predictor of behaviour and had close to no relationship with positive health behaviour [28].…”

Too soon to worry? Longitudinal examination of financial planning for retirement among Spanish aged workers

“…In addition, certain psychological aspects such as the influence of the negative stereotypes associated with age may be related to attitudes toward retirement [78] and have an impact on some older workers' ability to save. In the same vein, due to the strong connection between health and wealth, financial planning for retirement should be considered in its relationship with health planning for retirement [79, 80, 81, 82]. All this should be considered, without forgetting the relevance of similar studies with larger samples and more countries that enrich and advance the study of FPR.…”