Screen-detected raised blood pressure and gaps in the hypertension care cascade among adults attending a humanitarian medical mission in Ukraine: A cross-sectional study
6 affiliations
- 1Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 2International Medical Service Center, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 3Department of Orthodontics, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 4Graduate School of Oral Medicine, Matsumoto Dental University, Shiojiri, Japan
- 5Department of Stomatology, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 6MacKay Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Abstract
Cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death, and raised blood pressure is among its most important modifiable contributors. Conflict tends to interrupt the long-term care that hypertension demands, yet little screening data exist from settings of active conflict. We set out to describe screen-detected raised blood pressure, and the hypertension care cascade, among adults seen at a humanitarian medical mission in Ukraine. In this cross-sectional study we included adults (≥ 18 years) seen consecutively at a MacKay Memorial Hospital mission across three Ukrainian sites in April 2026. Blood pressure was taken once, and we counted a participant as having raised blood pressure if that single reading was ≥ 140/90 mmHg or they reported a previous hypertension diagnosis. Prevalence is reported with Wilson 95% confidence intervals and standardized to the World Health Organization world population; adjusted prevalence ratios come from modified Poisson regression with robust variance. For the cardiovascular screening stream we also described awareness, treatment, and control. Of 364 adults (mean age 52.5 years; 63.2% women), 65.7% of the 341 with complete outcome data had raised blood pressure on the crude estimate (95% confidence interval 60.5–70.5), falling to 54.7% (48.1–61.3) after age standardization. Prevalence climbed with age and was higher in men. Older age (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.19 per 10 years, 1.11–1.27), male sex (1.26, 1.08–1.47), and obesity (1.24, 1.09–1.42) were each independently associated with the outcome. Within the screening stream, 74.6% of those with raised blood pressure were aware, 58.8% were treated, and just 15.8% were controlled; estimates held across multiple imputation and alternative specifications. This was a self-selected sample assessed on a single reading and cannot speak to population prevalence, but the pattern—common raised blood pressure with poor control—makes a reasonable case for building simple screening and a clear referral pathway into missions of this kind.
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BibTeX
@article{chen2026screendetected,
title = {{Screen-detected raised blood pressure and gaps in the hypertension care cascade among adults attending a humanitarian medical mission in Ukraine: A cross-sectional study}},
author = {Kuan-Ting Chen and En-Tse Yen and Kun-Zhe Tsai and Shih-Ying Lin and Regina Maistrova and Weide Tsai},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0357957},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357957},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Screen-detected raised blood pressure and gaps in the hypertension care cascade among adults attending a humanitarian medical mission in Ukraine: A cross-sectional study
AU - Kuan-Ting Chen
AU - En-Tse Yen
AU - Kun-Zhe Tsai
AU - Shih-Ying Lin
AU - Regina Maistrova
AU - Weide Tsai
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0357957
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357957
AB - Cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death, and raised blood pressure is among its most important modifiable contributors. Conflict tends to interrupt the long-term care that hypertension demands, yet little screening data exist from settings of active conflict. We set out to describe screen-detected raised blood pressure, and the hypertension care cascade, among adults seen at a humanitarian medical mission in Ukraine. In this cross-sectional study we included adults (≥ 18 years) seen consecutively at a MacKay Memorial Hospital mission across three Ukrainian sites in April 2026. Blood pressure was taken once, and we counted a participant as having raised blood pressure if that single reading was ≥ 140/90 mmHg or they reported a previous hypertension diagnosis. Prevalence is reported with Wilson 95% confidence intervals and standardized to the World Health Organization world population; adjusted prevalence ratios come from modified Poisson regression with robust variance. For the cardiovascular screening stream we also described awareness, treatment, and control. Of 364 adults (mean age 52.5 years; 63.2% women), 65.7% of the 341 with complete outcome data had raised blood pressure on the crude estimate (95% confidence interval 60.5–70.5), falling to 54.7% (48.1–61.3) after age standardization. Prevalence climbed with age and was higher in men. Older age (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.19 per 10 years, 1.11–1.27), male sex (1.26, 1.08–1.47), and obesity (1.24, 1.09–1.42) were each independently associated with the outcome. Within the screening stream, 74.6% of those with raised blood pressure were aware, 58.8% were treated, and just 15.8% were controlled; estimates held across multiple imputation and alternative specifications. This was a self-selected sample assessed on a single reading and cannot speak to population prevalence, but the pattern—common raised blood pressure with poor control—makes a reasonable case for building simple screening and a clear referral pathway into missions of this kind.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -