(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Lower income raises the mortality rate among patients with high blood pressure (HBP), a recent study has revealed.
Researchers at Yonsei University College of Medicine monitored the mortality rate among 1.65 million patients between the ages of 30 and 80 diagnosed with HBP between 2004 and 2007 over the last ten years, which showed that the mortality rate among lower income earners was higher mostly due to complications related to HBP.
The research team divided the patients into five groups based on their level of income, and discovered that the mortality rate among those in the lower 20 percent was 1.5 times higher than those in the top 20 percent.
The mortality rate also differed based on how regularly medication was taken, in which the mortality rate among patients that did not regularly take medicine was 1.66 times higher than those who did.
The mortality rate among lower income patients who did not take medication regularly was 2.46 times higher than those with higher income who regularly took medication.
The study is the first of its kind to assess how income level and medications affect the death rate, the research team said.
“Health inequality is still rampant as we can see that the death rate among patients with lower income is higher, which suggests a need for measures to identify vulnerable groups and improve medical treatment,” said Prop. Kim Hyeon-chang, the joint head of the research team.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
