Socioeconomic gradients in hypertension prevalence and management: a cross-sectional study.

Authors

Eunji Kim, Hokyou Lee, YunJae Jung, Hyeon Chang Kim

Published in

BMC public health. Jul 15, 2026. Epub Jul 15, 2026.

Abstract

Despite advances in hypertension treatment, achieving optimal blood pressure control remains a major public health challenge. Socioeconomic status (SES) may influence hypertension management; however, evidence on its associations with pharmacotherapy, lifestyle modification, and self-management education remains limited. In this study, the association between SES and hypertension-related outcomes in the Republic of Korea was investigated.
In this nationwide cross-sectional study, data from the 2023 Korea Community Health Survey were analyzed, comprising 231,584 and 228,608 adults for educational attainment and household income analyses, respectively. Hypertension-related outcomes included diagnosed hypertension, pharmacotherapy, lifestyle modification, and self-management education. Crude and age- and sex-adjusted rates were calculated, followed by multivariable logistic regression analyses, adjusting for potential confounders.
Overall, the prevalence of diagnosed hypertension was 31.3%. Among participants with hypertension, the rates of pharmacotherapy, lifestyle modification, and self-management education were 95.9%, 23.8%, and 15.5%, respectively. The multivariable analyses showed a dose-response relationship between SES and outcomes: participants with primary school education or less had higher odds of diagnosed hypertension (odds ratio, 1.79; 95% confidence interval, 1.71-1.88) and pharmacotherapy use (2.04; 1.67-2.50) but lower odds of lifestyle modification engagement (0.47; 0.43-0.50) and receiving self-management education (0.34; 0.31-0.38) compared to those with college degree or higher. Notably, these socioeconomic gradients remained robustly consistent across all strata, while significantly steeper gradients were observed among females and younger adults (< 65 years). Analyses by household income showed similar patterns of associations, although with slightly weaker magnitudes.
Lower SES was associated with a higher prevalence of diagnosed hypertension and pharmacotherapy use but lower participation in lifestyle modifications and self-management education. Strengthening tailored self-management education and lifestyle modification support for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups may be an important strategy to reduce hypertension-related disparities.

PMID:
42458355
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.