Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine 1989;10(7):18-30.
Published online July 1, 1989.

고혈압의 위험요인에 관한 연구 -고산5개면 지역을 중심으로-

문정주 함선희 최경애 육미이 채영희 김기순

예수병원 지역사회 보건과

Abstract

This study was carried out in order to screen and identify the risk factors of hypertension and to obtain information useful in formulating strategy for hypertension control programs in rural Korean communities.
From January until March, 1987, a mobile screening team visited nine established centers served by community health practitioners (CHPs) in the Kosan region, and also visited several villages in this district which are not served by CHPs. A total of 537 adult volunteers over 30 years of age participated in this study. Each volunteer was interviewed individually, checked for height, weight, and blood pressure twice by a trained nurse,and examined by a family physician. The definitions of hypertension were based upon World Health Organization criteria. This study revealed the following results.
1. The mean systolic blood pressure of men was higher than that of women in all age groups except in the 50-59 age decade : however, the mean diastolic blood pressure of men was higher than that of women in all age groups.
2. Systolic blood pressure increased in accordance with advancing age, but diastolic blood pressure showed a plateau from age 40 years and older in men and from age 50 years and older in women.
3. Among suspected factors contributing to the presence of hypertension in this population group, the following showed a statistically significant association : contents and days of use of the refrigerator per year; relative body weight; duration of cigarette smoking; alcohol consumption: hypertensive history of the volunteer's mother; and preference for salty food.
Of these factors, the contents and days of refrigerator use per year showed the strongest association.
Based upon the findings of this study, diet and nutrition can be considered to be the most important factors in the development of hypertension among the people in the area studied. The strategy of hypertension control must therefore include measures to improve the diet and mutrition as essential constituents.
This study is part of the work of the Kosan Community Health Project which has been supported by the Protestant Central Agency for Development Aid in Bonn, West Germany since 1982.