GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF HYPERTENSION IN CANADIAN POPULATION

Abstract

Objective: A quarter of population is affected by hypertension in Canada. Substantial improvement has been achieved in HTN control in Canada over the past twenty-five years. However, disparities associated with factors like sex, ethnicity, location and health care access remain. Reliable information about trends in hypertension is needed at regional scale for the development of health policies and programs. Health geography and geographic information systems can provide a better understanding of HTN and its risk factors by detecting clusters using spatial analysis and mapping rates of HTN. The objectives of the study were to identify health regions with significantly high or low HTN rate using geostatistics and compare evolution from 2005 to 2019. It also seeks out to identify their populations’ characteristics using conventional statistical analysis. Design and method: Canadian Community Health Survey (2005, 2015, 2019) data were used for the analysis. The 130,000 respondents are located according to health regions and data can be analyzed using a geographic information system. Using age and gender as criteria for subgroups creation, we applied spatial autocorrelation analysis and hot spot/cold analysis to identify geographically contiguous health regions with high or low HBP rates. We then extracted the records in CCHS database for all respondents living in these regions for further statistical analysis. Results: HTN is still a major problem in Canadian population, especially for people aged 65 years and older although 72.9% considered themselves in good, very good or excellent health in 2015. Increase in HTN rate in health regions is spread all over Canada, although some regions showed a decrease in HTN rate. Getis-ord analysis located a cold spot region in western Canada while a hot spot was located in Ontario, central Canada. Cluster of health regions with high HTN rates shows more diabetes and more obese people even though 38.4% declared being in good, very good or excellent health. Conclusions: Increase in hypertension rate in health regions is spread all over Canada, even tough some regions showed a decrease in HBP rate. Canadians 65 years and older with HBP where more prone to obesity & diabetes.