EVALUATION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN HYPERTENSION AND THE FACTORS: GENDER, AGE, EDUCATION LEVEL AND WORK STATUS IN PANTAI LINUH, INDONESIA

Hypertension is a major public health problem in Indonesia. We aimed to determine any associations between hypertension and the following: gender, age, education level and work status in order to inform hypertension treatment and prevention programs. This study was conducted in Pantai Linuh Village, Indonesia during August 2015. Each subject was asked to complete a questionnaire asking about demographics and the desired study factors. Inclusion criteria were being aged >= 18 years, being a resident of Pantai Linuh Village and being willing to participate in the study. Exclusion criteria were not being registered as a resident of Pantai Linuh Village and not being willing to participate. A total of 300 subjects was determined as the minimum number of subjects needed for the study. A total of 325 subjects were included in this cross-sectional study. One hundred forty-three subjects were aged >45 years, 287 had a lower than high school education level, 90 were unemployed and 88 had hypertension. We found no significant association (p=0.981) between gender and hypertension. We found a significant association between hypertension and age >45 years (p=0.000), having a lower than high school education level (p=0.025) and being employed (p=0.000). Hypertension interventions need to be developed and tested, targeting these at risk groups in order to try to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with hypertension in this study population.