Risk Factors for Chronic Disease Among Rural Vietnamese Adults and the Association of These Factors With Sociodemographic Variables: Findings From the WHO STEPS Survey in Rural Vietnam, 2005 Hoang Van Minh, MD, PhD, Peter Byass, PhD, Dao Lan Huong, MD, PhD, Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc, PhD, Stig Wall, PhD Suggested citation for this article: Minh HV, Byass P, Huong DL, Chuc NTK, Wall S. | PREVENTING CHRONIC DISEASE PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH PRACTICE AND POLICY VOLUME 4 NO. 2 APRIL 2007 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Risk Factors for Chronic Disease Among Rural Vietnamese Adults and the Association of These Factors With Sociodemographic Variables Findings From the WHO STEPS Survey in Rural Vietnam 2005 Hoang Van Minh MD PhD Peter Byass PhD Dao Lan Huong MD PhD Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc PhD Stig Wall PhD Suggested citation for this article Minh HV Byass P Huong DL Chuc NTK Wall S. Risk factors for chronic disease among rural Vietnamese adults and the association of these factors with sociodemographic variables findings from the WHO STEPS survey in rural Vietnam 2005. Prev Chronic Dis serial online 2007 Apr date cited . Available from http pcd issues 2007 apr 06 . PEER REVIEWED Abstract Introduction Chronic diseases have emerged as a major health threat to the world s population particularly in developing countries. We examined the prevalence of selected risk factors for chronic disease and the association of these risk factors with sociodemographic variables in a representative sample of adults in rural Vietnam. Methods In 2005 we selected a representative sample of 2000 adults aged 25 to 64 years using the World Health Organization s STEPwise approach to surveillance of chronic disease risk factors. We measured subjects blood pressure calculated their body mass index BMI and determined their self-reported smoking status. We then assessed the extent to which hypertension being overweight having a BMI smoking and various combinations of these risk factors were associated with subjects education level occupational category and economic status. Results Mean blood pressure levels were higher among men than among women and increased progressively with age. The prevalence of hypertension was among men and among women. Sixty-three percent of men were current smokers and 58 were current daily smokers less than 1 of women smoked. Mean body mass .
