Health economics of screening for hypertension in Vietnam

The studies aims to identify the burden of a cardiovascular diseases and solutions to manage it in Vietnam, notably hypertension screening. The studies confirmed that hypertension creates a great burden in Vietnam in terms of cardiovascular diseases, from economic, clinical and social perspectives. Although hypertension management can reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease, early detection of hypertension and adherence to medicines still need to be greatly improved in the Vietnamese population. It would be cost-effective if screening for hypertension is started at 35-55 years among males and at 55 years among females. We recommend that screening and managing hypertension should be integrated into routine care in Vietnam.
Aside from estimated cardiovascular risk, age also seems a promising factor to guide efforts to improve adherence to treatment and corresponding cost-effectiveness. Awareness of complications related to hypertension was given as the main reason for adherence to therapy, so knowledge should be increased.
A few highlights should be noted as lessons learnt from this work. First, among various models available to predict CVD risks in hypertensive patients, the Asian and Chinese Multiple-provincial Cohort Study seems the most suitable for the Vietnamese. Second, with regard to measuring adherence to medicine, results from a mixed quantitative/qualitative study shows that patients receiving medicines does not always reflect how much medicines the patients actually take; they may not take all they receive, or they may take more by buying on the free market.