Chinese herbal therapy and Western drug use, belief and adherence for hypertension management in the rural areas of Heilongjiang province, China.
BACKGROUND
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) including Chinese herbal therapy has been widely practiced in China. However, little is known about Chinese herbal therapy use for hypertension management, which is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in China. Thus we described Chinese herbal therapy and western drug users, beliefs, hypertension knowledge, and Chinese herbal and western drug adherence and determinants of Chinese herbal therapy use among patients with hypertension in rural areas of Heilongjiang Province, China.


RESULTS
This face-to-face cross sectional survey included 665 hypertensive respondents aged 30 years or older in rural areas of Heilongjiang Province, China. Of 665 respondents, 39.7% were male, 27.4% were aged 65 years or older. At the survey, 14.0% reported using Chinese herbal therapy and 71.3% reported using western drug for hypertension management. A majority of patients had low level of treatment adherence (80.6% for the Chinese herbal therapy users and 81.2% for the western drug users). When respondents felt that their blood pressure was under control, 72.0% of the Chinese herbal therapy users and 69.2% of the western drug users sometimes stopped taking their medicine. Hypertensive patients with high education level or better quality of life are more likely use Chinese herbal therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
Majority of patients diagnosed with hypertension use western drugs to control blood pressure. Chinese herbal therapy use was associated with education level and quality of life.
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China; College of Pharmacy, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Xia
X
Li
Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Mingkai
M
Peng
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Yuan
Y
Li
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Zheng
Z
Kang
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Yanhua
Y
Hao
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Hong
H
Sun
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Lijun
L
Gao
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Mingli
M
Jiao
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Qunhong
Q
Wu
Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China; Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Hude
H
Quan
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011788:Quality of Life
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal