TY - JOUR
T1 - Missed opportunities for hypertension screening of older people in the Philippines
T2 - cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative individual-level data
AU - Kraft, Aleli D.
AU - Capuno, Joseph J.
AU - Calicdan, Kayleen Gene R.
AU - Cruz, Grace T.
AU - O'Donnell, Owen
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
PY - 2024/9
Y1 - 2024/9
N2 - Background: Guidelines recommend routine blood pressure measurement at health facilities. We estimated the potential for opportunistic screening for hypertension at health facilities to change the level and distribution of diagnosed hypertension in the older population of the Philippines. Methods: We used a representative, nationwide sample of Filipinos aged 60 years and older and classified respondents as a) hypertensive if they had high (≥140/90 mm Hg) blood pressure (BP) or were taking BP medication, b) diagnosed if told have high BP by a doctor, and c) a missed opportunity for diagnosis if they were hypertensive, undiagnosed and had an outpatient visit to a health facility in the past 12 months. We assumed c) would be diagnosed if health facilities operated opportunistic screening. We estimated percentages of hypertensives diagnosed and with a missed opportunity overall, by wealth quintile and covariates, with age-sex and, then, full adjustment. Findings: We estimated that opportunistic screening at health facilities would increase the percentage of hypertensives diagnosed from 62.7% (95% CI: 58.2, 67.0) to 74.4% (95% CI: 70.9, 77.6). The increase would be larger in richer groups due to lower (private) healthcare utilization by poorer, undiagnosed hypertensives. Interpretation: Opportunistic screening for hypertension, if effectively implemented at health facilities, would substantially increase diagnosis but exacerbate inequality unless barriers discouraging poorer, older Filipinos from accessing outpatient and primary care were lowered. Funding: Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation/ Swiss National Science Foundation grant 400640_160374.
AB - Background: Guidelines recommend routine blood pressure measurement at health facilities. We estimated the potential for opportunistic screening for hypertension at health facilities to change the level and distribution of diagnosed hypertension in the older population of the Philippines. Methods: We used a representative, nationwide sample of Filipinos aged 60 years and older and classified respondents as a) hypertensive if they had high (≥140/90 mm Hg) blood pressure (BP) or were taking BP medication, b) diagnosed if told have high BP by a doctor, and c) a missed opportunity for diagnosis if they were hypertensive, undiagnosed and had an outpatient visit to a health facility in the past 12 months. We assumed c) would be diagnosed if health facilities operated opportunistic screening. We estimated percentages of hypertensives diagnosed and with a missed opportunity overall, by wealth quintile and covariates, with age-sex and, then, full adjustment. Findings: We estimated that opportunistic screening at health facilities would increase the percentage of hypertensives diagnosed from 62.7% (95% CI: 58.2, 67.0) to 74.4% (95% CI: 70.9, 77.6). The increase would be larger in richer groups due to lower (private) healthcare utilization by poorer, undiagnosed hypertensives. Interpretation: Opportunistic screening for hypertension, if effectively implemented at health facilities, would substantially increase diagnosis but exacerbate inequality unless barriers discouraging poorer, older Filipinos from accessing outpatient and primary care were lowered. Funding: Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation/ Swiss National Science Foundation grant 400640_160374.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85202931610&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2024.101188
DO - 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2024.101188
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85202931610
SN - 2666-6065
VL - 50
JO - The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific
JF - The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific
M1 - 101188
ER -