Prevalence of hypertension and factors associated with the utilization of primary health care services for hypertension among hypertensive population aged 40 years and above in Pyin Oo Lwin Township, Myanmar

• Published in: PloS one 2024-10, Vol.19 (10), p.e0312186
• Main Authors: Soe, May Sabai, Hlaing, Su Su, Mon, Aye Sandar, Lynn, Kyaw Thu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis; Blood pressure; Care and treatment; Chi-square test; Chronic diseases; Chronic illnesses; Complications and side effects; Cost analysis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Disease; Female; Health care; Health care facilities; Health facilities; Health services; Hospitals; Households; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - epidemiology; Interviews; Male; Medical care, Cost of; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Myanmar - epidemiology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; People and Places; Population studies; Prevalence; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Prevention; Primary care; Primary health care; Primary Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Public health; Questionnaires; Risk factors; Rural areas; Rural health care; Rural Population - statistics & numerical data; Rural populations; Sample size; Utilization
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312186

Utilization of hypertension services at primary health care levels has not been assessed at township level, since launching of PEN interventions in Myanmar. This study aimed to determine the factors associating with the utilization of primary health care services for hypertension among 40 years and above hypertensive population. Community-based cross-sectional study was done in Pyin Oo Lwin Township, 2023. Multi stage sampling was conducted to recruit 40 years and above participants; response rate was 85%. Joint National Committee (JNC7) classification was used to define hypertension. Among hypertensive participants, descriptive analysis, Chi squared test and multiple logistic models were conducted, with a significance level of 0.05. Out of 1001 screening participants, prevalence of hypertension was 38.6% (386). Among 386 participants, 51.8% (200) utilized primary health care services provided by public health facilities. Rural residents (AOR = 2.79, CI = 1.68, 4.67), known hypertension (AOR = 4.36, CI = 2.39, 8.23), good perception on hypertension (AOR = 0.30, CI = 0.14, 0.62), perceived cost of travel as necessary (AOR = 0.57, CI = 0.35, 0.92) and awareness of available services (AOR = 4.11, CI = 2.55, 6.71) were associated with the utilization of primary health care services for hypertension. This study provided context-specific scientific evidence to tackle existing problems of low utilization of PHC services for hypertension. Strengthening health care infrastructure for quality hypertension care at primary health care level was also recommended.