A Thai study in 2004 surveyed the rates of pre-hypertension and hypertension in a group of 39,290 men and women aged 15 years or over.

Over 30% of the group had pre-hypertension and 20% of the group had hypertension. More of the men had high blood pressure than the women. Men who lived in the city were more likely to be hypertensive than men who lived in the countryside. There was little difference in the rates of hypertension between urban and rural women.

The rates of hypertension were similar across all of Thailand. Most people who had high blood pressure were unaware that they had the condition. People from rural areas were more likely to be unaware that they had hypertension than any other group.

Of the people who already knew they had hypertension, fewer than 80% had taken blood pressure-lowering drugs in the previous two weeks. Despite this, only around a third of the people who had taken anti-hypertensive medication had blood pressure readings of less than 140/90.

The study suggested that hypertension and pre-hypertension were rising rapidly across all regions of Thailand. Unfortunately, there was little awareness of hypertension in all groups. The management of hypertension using screening, drug treatment and the promotion of healthy lifestyles was seen as a challenging task for the future.

The text was taken from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18192831 - ‘Prevalence and management of prehypertension and hypertension by geographic regions of Thailand: the Third National Health Examination Survey, 2004.’

Questions

1. What percentage of the group had high blood pressure?

2. Was high blood pressure more common in men or women?

3. Is high blood pressure more common in the city or the country people?

4. Did everyone who knew they had high blood pressure take blood pressure medication?

5. Did the blood pressure medication lower blood pressure readings in all cases?

6. Did people in the study group understand about high blood pressure?

7. What are the three important parts of hypertension management?

Vocabulary: Match the terms on the left with their meanings on the right.
Give your answer in a full sentence e.g. Pre-hypertension is the rising blood pressure which may lead to hypertension if untreated.

pre-hypertension	a city
anti-hypertensive	b examination of a group of people for a particular disease
urban	c rising blood pressure which may lead to hypertension if untreated
rural	d set of health habits which affect how a person lives
screening	e something which counteracts high blood pressure
lifestyle	f country

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A Thai study in 2004 surveyed the rates of pre-hypertension and hypertension in a group of 39,290 men and women aged 15 years or over.