title: Factors influencing unawareness of hypertension among older Mexican Americans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective of the study was to identify factors associated with unawareness of hypertension among Mexican Americans age 65 years and older.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a population-based survey of 3,050 older Mexican Americans conducted in five Southwestern states in 1993-1994. An in-home interview included sociodemographics, review of medications, and blood pressure measurements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty percent of all subjects were hypertensive, and 37% of these were unaware of their diagnosis. Unaware hypertensive had significantly higher mean blood pressures than did aware hypertensives (145.7/ 86.2 mm Hg vs 142.4/83.1 mm Hg). While 77% of aware hypertensives were treated, only 10% of unaware hypertensives were treated. In multivariate analyses, factors associated with unawareness included male gender (OR = 1.8), being married (OR = 1.6), having Medicaid (OR = 1.6), having made fewer than two visits to a doctor in the past year (OR = 2.8), having a history of heart disease (OR = 0.57) or stroke (OR = 0.37), and having poor self-reported health (OR = 0.43).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite 3 decades of hypertension detection and education programs, unawareness of hypertension remains high among older Mexican Americans. There is a continued need for community-based education programs for hypertensives who are unaware of their diagnosis, and also there is need for programs to increase access to primary care physicians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satish
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Markides
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Goodwin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015206:Southwestern United States; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires