Objective: The aim of this cohort study was to evaluate the prevalence of hypertension and cardiovascular risk factors in the studied population.
Methods: Presented results are a part of the Polish-Norwegian Study (PONS) project. The study group consisted of 3,862 inhabitants of Świętokrzyskie Province aged 45-64 years (2,572 females and 1,290 males).
Results: Prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension was evaluated in the studied population of 3,854 urban and rural inhabitants. Mean blood pressure in the whole studied population was 139.6/81.9 mmHg; of the studied population 61.7% were hypertensive. Hypertension was more prevalent in the studied males (70.63%) than in the females (57.24%). In both males and females, the older subgroups (55-64 y.o.) had significantly higher blood pressure than the younger subgroups (45-54). Education had a significant impact on the prevalence of hypertension, and the highest prevalence of hypertension was observed in the middle level educated groups of females and males. No significant difference was observed between rural and urban inhabitants. In both females and males, the prevalence of hypertension significantly decreased with level of education. Hypertension was well-controlled in only 13.8% of the subjects. More studied females than males achieved good control of blood pressure (14.09 vs. 12.7%), and better control of blood pressure was significantly more frequent in better those who were better educated. Hypertension was not diagnosed in 23.2% of studied population. Significantly, more males than females had undiagnosed hypertension (30.4 vs. 19.5%). No significant difference between rural and urban populations was observed. Interestingly, both in females and males, the better educated groups had more undiagnosed hypertension than those who were well-educated.
Conclusions: The studied group had a high prevalence of hypertension (61.7%), which was less frequent and better controlled in the studied females than in the males. No significant difference was observed between the urban and rural populations. Level of education had significant impact on the prevalence of hypertension.