Self report of non - communicable diseases and healthcare seeking behaviors in the Southern community

Abstract

A cross - sectional survey of 7290 people aged ≥ 18 years was conducted in 9 southern provinces in 2018 to determine the status of selfreport of hypertension/cardio vascular diseases (HTN/CVD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) and healthcare seeking behaviors. Percentage of hypertension/cardio- HTN/CVD and DM was 11.3% and 5.0% respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that buying drugs at the pharmacy or using home remedies when having health issues tended to be higher among those of Kinh ethnic (OR = 1.66; 95%CI: 1.29 – 2.14), Income ≤ 5 millions VNĐ/month (OR = 1.29; 95%CI: 1.13 – 1.49), Living in the Mekong delta/South-eastern region compared with the Highland (OR = 2.49; 95%CI: 1.79 – 3.48 among those in HCM city; OR = 3.02; 95%CI: 2.29 – 3.99 among those in the South-eastern region; OR = 2.38; 95%CI 1.80 – 3.15 among those the Mekong delta region), smoking regularly (OR = 1.28; 95%CI: 1.10 – 1.50), and drinking regularly (OR = 2.07; 95%CI: 1.61 – 2.67); and tended to be lower among those who were farmers (OR = 0.86; 95%CI: 0.74 – 0.99). Informationeducation and communication should be augmented–with a focus on individuals of low income, regular smokers, regular drinkers–to change health seeking behaviors so that people seek healthcare at registered health facilities instead of buying drugs at pharmacies or using home remedies when having health issues.