Copenhagen School of Global Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, DK-1014 Copenhagen, Denmark.
BMC Public Health. 2013 Mar 6;13:194. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-194.
Mongolia has a high and increasing burden of hypertension and related disease, with cardiovascular diseases among the leading causes of death. Yet little is known about the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the Mongolian population with regards to blood pressure. With this in mind, a national Non-Communicable Diseases knowledge, attitudes and practices survey on blood pressure was implemented in late 2010. This paper reports on the findings of this research.
Using a multi-stage, random cluster sampling method 3450 participant households were selected from across Mongolia. This survey was interviewer-administered and included demographic and socio-economic questions. Sample size was calculated using methods aligned with the World Health Organization STEPS surveys.
One fifth of participants reported having never heard the term 'blood pressure'. This absence of health knowledge was significantly higher in men, and particularly younger men. The majority of participants recognised high blood pressure to be a threat to health, with a higher level of risk awareness among urban individuals. Education level and older age were generally associated with a heightened knowledge and risk perception. Roughly seven in ten participants were aware of the relationship between salt and blood pressure. Exploring barriers to screening, participants rated a 'lack of perceived importance' as the main deterring factor among fellow Mongolians and overall, participants perceived medication and exercise as the only interventions to be moderately effective at preventing high blood pressure.
Rural populations; younger populations; men; and less educated populations, all with lower levels of knowledge and risk perception regarding hypertension, present those most vulnerable to it and the related health outcomes. This research intimates major health knowledge gaps in sub-populations within Mongolia, regarding health-risks related to hypertension.
蒙古国高血压及相关疾病负担高且呈上升趋势，心血管疾病是主要死因之一。然而，对于蒙古国民众的血压知识、态度和实践情况，人们知之甚少。有鉴于此，2010 年末蒙古国开展了一次全国非传染性疾病血压知识、态度和实践情况调查。本文报告了该研究的结果。
采用多阶段、随机聚类抽样方法，从蒙古国各地选取了 3450 户参与家庭。该调查采用访谈者管理方式，包括人口统计学和社会经济问题。样本量按照世界卫生组织 STEPS 调查的方法进行计算。
五分之一的参与者表示从未听说过“血压”一词。这种健康知识的缺失在男性中更为明显，尤其是年轻男性。大多数参与者认识到高血压对健康构成威胁，城市居民的风险意识更高。教育程度和年龄较大通常与更高的知识和风险认知相关。大约十分之七的参与者知道盐与血压之间的关系。在探讨筛查障碍时，参与者将“缺乏感知到的重要性”评为蒙古同胞中主要的阻碍因素，总体而言，参与者认为药物和运动仅对预防高血压有中等程度的效果。
农村人口、年轻人口、男性和受教育程度较低的人群，对高血压的知识和风险认知水平较低，是最容易受到高血压及其相关健康后果影响的人群。本研究表明，蒙古国部分人群在与高血压相关的健康风险方面存在严重的知识差距。
