Copyright © Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Social disparities in prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension in Iran: Second National Surveillance of Risk Factors of Noncommunicable Diseases, 2006 Mitra Ebrahimi a,M , Mohammad A. Mansournia b , Ali A. Haghdoost c , Arash Abazari d , Farshid Alaeddini e , Ali Mirzazadeh c and Masud Yunesian b,f,M Objective Assessing hypertension prevalence, treatment and control by sociodemographic factors in Iran. Methods We analyzed data from the 2006 National Surveillance of Risk Factors for Noncommunicable Diseases of Iran with a population-based sample of almost 30000 people aged 15–64 years. Multiple logistic regression models were used to explore differences in hypertension prevalence, treatment and control, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, comorbidities and behavioral factors. Results Hypertension prevalence was 17.37%. Among hypertensive patients, 33.35% were under treatment, and, among treated people, 35.10% had hypertension controlled. In multiple-regression analysis, age, male sex, low level of education, Kurd ethnicity, overweight and obesity, diabetes mellitus, lower level of physical activity and high-Human Development Index provinces were independently associated with higher prevalence of hypertension. Income and living in rural or urban area were not related to hypertension prevalence. Treatment rates were lower in men, younger people and people of low education and low income, but there were no treatment rate disparities connected to living area, ethnicity and provinces (by Human Development Index). In addition, diabetic patients, obese people and past daily smokers had higher treatment rates. Lower control rates were independently associated with male sex, higher age and lower education, but not with other variables. Conclusion In Iran, there is comparatively higher prevalence of hypertension among people of Kurdish ethnicity, people of low education and in high-Human Development Index provinces; a lower treatment rate among men, younger people, people of low education and low income; and a lower control rate among men and people of low education. These disparities should be addressed by researchers and health policy makers. J Hypertens 28:1620–1629 Q 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Journal of Hypertension 2010, 28:1620–1629 Keywords: educational status, epidemiology, ethnic groups, health status disparities, income, Iran, residence characteristics, rural health, socioeconomic factors, urban health Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; HDI, Human Development Index; NCD, noncommunicable disease; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; OR, odds ratio; STEPS, STEPwise approach to chronic disease risk factor surveillance a Student’s Scientific Research Centre, b School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), c Physiology Research Centre, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, d School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), e Health Researchers Research and Development Institute and f Centre for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran Correspondence to Mitra Ebrahimi, MD, MPH, Student’s Scientific Research Centre, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Poursina St., P.O. Box #14155-6537, Tehran, Iran Tel: +98 21 66495948; fax: +98 21 66418588; e-mail: ebrahimi_m@razi.tums.ac.ir Received 11 June 2009 Revised 15 March 2010 Accepted 22 March 2010 Introduction In recent years, social disparities in health, especially in developed countries, have been extensively investigated. It is not surprising that the health measure of many of these studies has been hypertension. Hypertension is one of the leading contributors to the burden of disease and mortality throughout the world [1]. Many studies have investigated the association of hypertension prevalence, treatment and control with race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and residential environment. For example, a higher prevalence of hypertension in African–Americans has been consistently demonstrated in the United States [2]. In most studies [3–8], the hypertension prevalence is inversely related to the socioeconomic status, edu- cation and income. However, associations between hy- pertension and these measures were absent, or some- times even positive, in another investigation [5]. Additionally, a study [9] has shown that the people who live in more disadvantaged areas are more likely to have high blood pressure (BP). Until now, the relation of social factors and health in Iran has been poorly represented in literature. The current study analyzes data from an Iranian national survey in 2006 in order to explore the association of sociodemo- graphic factors (sex, age, living in rural or urban area, ethnicity, income, education and the province of 1620 Original article M M.E. and M.Y. contributed equally to the writing of this article. 0263-6352 ß 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins DOI:10.1097/HJH.0b013e32833a38f2