Hypertension News:

Almost 60% of American Adults May Have or Be Close to Having Hypertension

Under recently revised high blood pressure classifications, almost 60 percent of American adults may have hypertension or may be on the verge of suffering from this condition, according to a study reported in the October 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Youfa Wang and Qiong Joanna Wang, of the University of Illinois at Chicago 's School of Public Health estimated that 58.2 percent of all adults had blood pressure readings that placed them into the categories of either hypertension or prehypertension.

Prehypertension is a new, lower-threshold designation established last year. People with prehypertension have systolic/diastolic readings of between 120/80 and 139/89. Hypertension is defined as 140/90 or above.

The Wangs used data collected from 4,805 adults age 18 or older. Groups with the most pronounced prevalence of either prehypertension or hypertension were non-Hispanic blacks (63 percent), black males (69 percent), people age 60 and over (88 percent), people with less than a high school education (65 percent) and obese people with a body-mass index over 30 (76 percent). The prevalence of either prehypertension or hypertension among both men and women who were not overweight is 47 percent.

The Wangs found that awareness and appropriate management of high blood pressure among hypertensive patients remains low. One-third were not aware of their condition, and among those who were aware, only 31 percent had their blood pressure controlled at target levels.

Mexican-Americans had the lowest awareness of their hypertension and were the least likely to manage the condition.

"Socioeconomic status is probably a major factor, which influences access to health care," said Wang. "Mexican-Americans are less likely to see doctors for examinations or treatments than were other population groups."

The Wangs also found that the prevalence of high blood pressure among all American adults increased considerably during the past decade, from 20 to 27 percent. Earlier data from the 1970s and 1980s, however, showed high blood pressure then was on the decline.

Youfa Wang calls the new findings a "timely wake-up call to the general population of the United States, to physicians and to health care professionals. We need to get people's attention and continue efforts to prevent or control hypertension," he said.

"People need to adopt lifestyle modifications, change their diets, try to be more active and get more exercise, quit smoking," said Wang. "This can all help control blood pressure, reduce the risk of developing hypertension and future risks of cardiovascular disease."

Source: Medical Week staff, week of October 30, 2004