Yongjae Yu1, Youn Huh2, Sung Sunwoo3
1 Department of Family Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
2 Department of Family Medicine, Uijeongbu Eulji Medical Center, Eulji University School of Medicine, Uijeongbu,
Korea
Background: The risk of hypertension is known to be higher
in single-person households than in multi-person
households. This study was performed to investigate the
differences in health behaviors of patients with hyper-
tension by household type.
Methods: This cross-sectional study used data in the 8th
National Health and Nutrition Survey to investigate the
lifestyle habits of 3,093 patients with hypertension aged 18
years or above. Health behaviors of single- and mul-
ti-person households were analyzed using chi-square test
and t-test by gender. Multivariate logistic regression
analysis was conducted to analyze the odds ratio (OR) and
95% confidence interval (CI) of health behaviors by
household type.
Results: According to gender, there were differences in
demographic distribution and health behaviors between
single-person household and multi-person households. The
results in the comparison between single- and
multi-person households by multivariate logistic analysis
showed: single-person households showed a
1.50-fold increase of being a current smoker (OR, 1.50; 95%
CI, 1.01-2.22) in males, 2.18-fold (OR, 2.18; 95%
CI, 1.06-4.48) in females. With respect to nutritional intake,
women in single person household showed lower
intake in various nutrients such as protein, fat, water, fibers,
and sodium, as well as total calorie (but not carbo-
hydrate), while men in single person household showed
lower intake in fibers only.
Conclusions: The results of this study shows that adults in
single-person households have an increased risk of
being smokers. Also, nutritional support could be
necessary. Based on such findings, physicians, nurses and
other health professionals are recommended to focus more
on health behaviors such as smoking and diet in
patients with hypertension, particularly in single households.
Korean J Health Promot 2023;23(1):1-7
Keywords: Family characteristics, Hypertension, Health
behavior, Smoking, Nutritional deficiency |