Clinical characteristics of hypertension among victims in temporary shield district after Wenchuan earthquake in China

AIM :Thefrequencyofhyperten - sion events increases after a strong stress, but the mechanism has not been fully investigated. This study aimed to investigate its prevalence and risk factors after theWenchuan earthquake (8.0ontheRichterscale),soastoprovideasci- entific basis for the prevention of hypertension innaturaldisastersorunforeseenaccidents. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Victims stayingin temporaryshelterformorethan1yearbetween MarchtoMay2009wererandomlyselectedbymulti- stagestratifiedclustersamplingmethod.Andprede - terminedquestionnaire surveyand physicalexami- nationwerecarriedout.Inthisstudy,allparticipants signedinformedconsentform. RESULTS: A total of 3230 victims aged over 20 yearsparticipatedinthisstudy,andtheprevalence rate of hypertension among those victims was 24.08%(778/3230),mostofwhomhadfirst-levelhy - pertension;andthestandardizedratewas18.44%. Moreover, the rates of hypertension awareness, dosing and controlling was only 34.58%, 53.43% and 17.84%, respectively. Among this cohort, the prevalencerateofhypertensionincreasedwithage (p 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age, family history of hypertension, sleep quality, waist-to-hipratio,bodymassindexandbloodglu - coselevelwereriskfactorsofearthquake-induced hypertension among victims in temporary shield district,butmentalstresswasnot. CONCLUSIONS: Though mental stress was not a risk factor of hypertension in this study, earthquake-inducedhypertensionshouldnotbe ignored.Forvictimsafterearthquake,theeduca - tionofthepreventionandtreatmentofhyperten - sionshouldbestrengthened.