The effect gap of hypertension health management services in poverty and non-poverty counties on the hypertension control: evidence from China Chronic Diseases Risk Factors Surveillance

BACKGROUND: The Chinese government implemented the health poverty alleviation project (HPAP) since 2016 in poverty counties (PCs). To evaluate the effect of the HPAP on hypertension health management and control in PCs is vital for the policy improvement. METHODS: China Chronic Disease and Risk Factors Surveillance programme were conducted from August 2018 to June 2019. A total of 95,414 participants aged 35 and above from 59 PCs and 129 non-poverty counties (NPCs) were involved in this study. Hypertension prevalence, hypertension control, treatment and health management prevalence, and physical examination proportion were calculated and compared by PCs and NPCs. Logistic regression was employed to explore the association between hypertension control and management services. RESULTS: The hypertension prevalence in NPCs was significantly higher than that in PCs (NPCs 46.1% vs. PCs 41.2%, P < 0.001). The NPCs participants had a higher hypertension control prevalence (NPCs 32.7% vs. PCs 27.3%, P < 0.001) and treatment prevalence (NPCs 86.0% vs. PCs 80.0%, P < 0.001) than that in PCs. The proportion of physical examination in one year in NPCs was significantly higher than that in PCs (NPCs 37.0% vs. PCs 29.5%, P < 0.001). The proportion of diagnosed hypertension patients without hypertension health management in NPCs was significantly higher than that in PCs (NPCs 35.7% vs. PCs 38.4%, P < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression showed that standardized and non-standardized hypertension health management were positively correlated with hypertension control in NPCs, and standardized hypertension health management was positively correlated with hypertension control in PCs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show the equity and accessibility gap of health resources still existed between PCs and NPCs under the influence of the HPAP. Hypertensive health management was effective for hypertension control in both PCs and NPCs. However, the quality of management services still needs to be improved.