Chinese Herbal Therapy and Western Drug Use, Belief and Adherence for Hypertension Management in the Rural Areas of Heilongjiang Province, China

BackgroundTraditional 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.Methodology and Principal FindingsThis 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 and SignificanceMajority 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.

背景 包括中药疗法在内的传统中医药（Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM）在中国已得到广泛应用与推广。然而，目前针对用于高血压（hypertension）管理的中药疗法的相关研究仍较为匮乏——高血压是中国最常见的慢性疾病之一。因此，本研究针对中国黑龙江省农村地区的高血压患者，对其中药疗法与西药使用者的用药认知、高血压相关知识掌握水平、中药及西药治疗依从性（treatment adherence），以及中药疗法使用的影响因素进行了描述性分析。

方法与主要研究结果 本研究采用面对面横断面调查（cross sectional survey）设计，共纳入中国黑龙江省农村地区665名30岁及以上的高血压患者。其中39.7%为男性，27.4%的受访者年龄在65岁及以上。调查结果显示，14.0%的受访者报告使用中药疗法，71.3%的受访者报告使用西药开展高血压管理。多数患者的治疗依从性处于较低水平：中药疗法使用者中80.6%存在依从性低下问题，西药使用者中这一比例为81.2%。当受访者自认为血压已得到控制时，72.0%的中药疗法使用者与69.2%的西药使用者曾自行停药。研究发现，受教育程度较高或生活质量（quality of life）较好的高血压患者，更倾向于选择中药疗法。

结论与意义 多数确诊高血压的患者采用西药控制血压。中药疗法的使用情况与患者的受教育程度及生活质量显著相关。