Changes of Adult Population Health Status in China from 2003 to 2008

Sun, Hongpeng; Zhang, Qiuju; Luo, Xiao; Quan, Hude; Zhang, Feng; Liu, Chang; Liu, Meina

The third possible explanation is that the prevalence of hypertension in China has been rising rapidly during the period from 2003 to 2008. Our results indicate that the prevalence of hypertension in the last 6 months before the survey has doubled from 3.6% in 2003 to 7.1% in 2008; and 17.5% of Chinese people had been diagnosed with hypertension by medical doctors. However, the true prevalence of hypertension should be higher than reported because of respondents' unawareness of their condition. Previous national studies suggest that the prevalence of hypertension in the Chinese adult population has increased from 5.1% in 1959, to 7.7% in 1980, to 13.6% in 1991, and to 18.8% in 2002 [40, 41, 42] . Nevertheless they should be compared cautiously owing to methodological differences in sampling and to differences in the criteria used to define hypertension. In addition, control of hypertension in China is far from optimum. According to the national nutrition survey of 2002, 18.8% of Chinese adults had hypertension, and of the 24% affected individuals who were aware of their condition, 78% were treated and 19% adequately controlled [40, 42] . At the same time, 27.2% of diabetes patients took medication and 9.7% achieved controlled diabetes [43] . Therefore a national education program that can eliminate the huge gaps among presence, awareness, treatment, and ability to control of hypertension and diabetes should be given to the public, clinicians, and healthcare decision makers. Fourth, insurance coverage that has been increasing in China, leading to higher health services utilization [13] . Previous national health services surveys revealed that the 2-week consultation rates were 11.8% of urban residents and 13.9% rural residents in 2003 [20] . The percentages increased to 12.7% of urban and 15.2% rural in 2008. Therefore Chinese adults in 2008 seemed more likely to detect disease.