Unawareness of having hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes among medicated individuals.

Aims: The objectives of this study were to assess the level of disease awareness in medicated patients with hypertension, dyslipidemia, or diabetes and to identify potential predictors of unawareness.

Methods: A total of 17,323 participants who visited an institution for a medical checkup between 2009 and 2017 were investigated retrospectively. Disease unawareness was defined as taking medication for a disease but not being aware of having that disease.

Results: Among the medicated participants, 10% (169/1658), 30% (278/919), and 5% (21/389) were unaware of having hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes, respectively. Multivariate analysis identified male sex as an independent predictive factor for unawareness of having hypertension. Participants who had an alcohol consumption habit, higher body mass index (BMI), or higher systolic blood pressure had a lower risk of hypertension unawareness. Male sex and BMI were identified as independent predictive factors for unawareness of having dyslipidemia. Participants with higher hemoglobin A levels were at decreased risk of diabetes unawareness.

Conclusions: A relatively large number of medicated participants were unaware of the disease they were being treated for. Explanatory factors for disease unawareness included male sex, no alcohol consumption, lower BMI, and disease-related factors, such as lower blood pressure and hemoglobin A levels.