International journal of epidemiology
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This study uses data from the World Health Organization's Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) to examine patterns of hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control for people aged 50 years and over in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa. ⋯ The high rates of hypertension in low- and middle-income countries are striking. Levels of treatment and control are inadequate despite half those sampled being aware of their condition. Since cardiovascular disease is by far the largest cause of years of life lost in these settings, these findings emphasize the need for new approaches towards control of this major risk factor.
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Ethnic health inequalities are substantial. One explanation relates to socioeconomic differences between groups. However, socioeconomic variables need to be comparable across ethnic groups as measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) and indicators of health outcomes. ⋯ Across groups, SEP measures were inconsistently associated with CVD hospitalization or death, with effect size and direction of effect after adjustment varying across ethnic groups. We recommend that researchers systematically explore the effect of their choice of SEP indicators, using standard multivariate methods where appropriate, to demonstrate their cross-ethnic group validity as potential confounding variables for the specific groups and outcomes of interest.