Background
Hainan is a tropical island in China with a large migratory population, and the health problems of the migratory population have caused widespread concern. In this study, we focused mainly on the changes in quality of life (QoL) and the associated influencing factors underlying those changes among the migratory population before and after arriving at Hainan to provide a theoretical basis for the health management of the hypertensive migratory population.
Methods
From December 2021 to January 2022, convenience sampling was used to recruit middle-aged and elderly migratory individuals with a hypertension reside stay of longer than one month in the Chengmai Mangrove Bay community of Hainan. After obtaining informed consent, we investigated the demographic characteristics of the participants and evaluated their QoL with the SF-36 twice; one round of the SF-36 was about their hometown, and the other round was about living in Hainan for 1 month. The difference in blood pressure between that observed in Hainan and that observed in their hometowns was used to determine whether the BP change in the subjects decreased or did not decrease after migrating to Hainan. Univariate analysis was performed via paired t tests and Kendall's tau-b tests, and multiple linear regression analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the factors influencing the QoL of the participants.
Results
A total of 305 hypertensive migratory individuals participated in this study. Among them, there were 148 males (48.52%) and 157 females (51.48%), with a mean age of 68.61 ± 9.39 years. A total of 295 (96.72) patients had stage 1 hypertension, and 10 (3.28%) had stage 2 hypertension or above. The QoL of the subjects in Hainan was not affected by whether their blood pressure was lowered. The postmigration scores for the 8 subscales of QoL, the global score, the PCS, and the MCS were all higher than the scores for their hometowns (P < 0.05). Factors such as gender (r = 0.139, P < 0.05), age (r = 0.209, P < 0.05), and level of education (r = -0.133, P < 0.05) were associated with changes in the QoL of the participants. The conditions of green and water spaces in their hometown (95% CI: 0.609 ~ 7.710, P < 0.05), sleep habits in their hometown (95% CI: 0.216 ~ 6.008, P < 0.05), and ventilation habits in their hometown (95% CI: -7.131 ~ -0.084, P < 0.05) were the major factors influencing the subjects’ QoL in their hometown. The factors that influenced the improvement in the subjects’ QoL in Hainan Province included hypertension classification (OR 2.336, 95% CI: 1.125 ~ 4.853, P = 0.023) and BMI (OR = 6.402, 95% CI: 1.009 ~ 40.624, P = 0.049).
Conclusion
The QoL of hypertensive migratory individuals in Hainan improved with respect to individual health, physiological function, psychological function and social function. The lower the hypertension classification and BMI are, the greater the improvement in the QoL of hypertensive migratory participants.
