Background: Non-communicable diseases seriously affect public health and socio-economic development of the country due to the high number of people suffering from diseases, being disabled and mortal. However, the proportion of people who recognized themselves a suffering from non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia is not high. For cases that their disease situations have been identified, there are not appropriate treatment and preventive behaviors.
Objectives: 1) To determine the proportion of 25 - 84 years old peoplewho identified themselves as suffering from hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia. 2) To learn treatment and preventive behaviors in the group of people who identified themselves as suffering from diseases.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a randomly selected sample of 1600 residents in Thua Thien Hue province.
Results: The proportion of people knowing that they are suffering from hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia was 29.4%; 3.2% and 7.8% respectively. Among them, the proportion of people who did not treat and treated irregularly accounted for 42.7%; 13.7% and 75.2% respectively; the proportion of people who did not change their lifestyles and dietary habits accounted for 50.1%; 5.9% and 56.8% respectively.
Conclusions: The proportion of people who identified themselves as suffering from some non-communicable diseases without appropriate treatment and preventive behaviors is alarming. Interventions are needed to help people realize the importance of treatment and prevention effectively.
Key words: Non-communicable diseases, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia
Health beliefs associated with preventive behaviors against noncommunicable diseases