Epidemiology of and Factors Associated with Prehypertension Among Hill Tribe Adults Aged 30-59 Years in Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of and to determine the factors associated with prehypertension among the hill tribe aged 30-59 years. A cross-sectional study was conducted to collect data using a validated questionnaire and 5 mL blood specimens among six main hill tribe people living in 30 villages. Logistic regression was used to assess the associations between variables at a significance level of α = 0.05. A total of 1,076 individuals were recruited into the study: 67.3% were females, and 22.6% were aged 30-39 years. The overall prevalence was 67.8%. Six variables were found to be associated with prehypertension: being female; had family members ≤ 4 people; being members of Lahu, Hmong, Yao, Karen, and Lisu; had family debt; had overweight; and had a high total cholesterol. The implementation focused on encouraging active physical activity to reduce prehypertension is serious concerned and introduced.