Prevalence and Correlates of Hypertension Unawareness among Lebanese Adults: The Need to Target Those “Left Behind”

Table 2

Descriptive characteristics of study participants.

Variables	Total
	N = 2214
	n	%
Socioeconomic characteristics
Age (years)
25–44	1254	61.5
45–64	676	29.6
65 and above	284	8.9
Median (interquartile range)	40 (32–50)
Gender (% male)	1017	44.2
Marital status (% ever married)	1733	79.4
Educational level
Illiterate/reads and writes	196	8.1
Primary/complementary education	928	44.2
Secondary/technical education	565	24.9
University or higher education	525	22.8
Work status
Not working (includes housewives)	933	44.7
Working	1148	50.2
Retired	132	5.0
Access and use of healthcare
Insurance coverage (% yes)	1321	57.8
Visited health professional in last 6 months (% yes)	1009	45.0
Last time measured blood pressure (BP)
Past year	1349	58.6
1-2 years	342	16.4
≥3 years	200	9.8
Never	323	15.2
Last time measured either blood sugar or blood lipids
Past year	1153	49.3
1-2 years	360	16.0
≥3 years	200	9.8
Never	501	24.9
Clinical profile and risk behavior
Smoking (cigarette and/or waterpipe) (% yes)	1309	58.7
Physical activity
Low-intensity activity	1017	45.1
Moderate-intensity activity	707	32.0
High-intensity activity	476	22.9
Salt intake
≤2300 mg/day	990	44.8
>2300 mg/day	1125	55.2
Alcohol
None	1303	63.8
Moderate drinking	789	31.6
Heavy drinking	122	4.6
BMI
Normal weight (<25)	709	33.7
Overweight (25–29)	813	37.3
Obese (≥30)	621	29.0
Self-reported high lipids (% yes)	411	16.7
Self-reported cardiovascular disease (CVD) (% yes)	196	7.7
Self-reported diabetes mellitus (DM) (% yes)	181	7.4
Family history of hypertension (% yes)	1353	61.5

CVD included heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, and/or peripheral vascular disease.