From 2013-2016, about 46% of US adults had hypertension. Plus more highlights from the AHA's annual Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update.
The American Heart Association's annual report titled, "Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: 2020 Update," provides the most up-to-date statistics related to heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, including health behaviors and health factors that contribute to CV health and CV-related morbidity and mortality.
The report is a critical resource for patients, physicians, and others seeking accurate data.
Scroll through our quick slideshow below for key points from the chapter on hypertension, focusing on prevalence among US adults.
In NHANES 2013-2016, the age-adjusted prevalence of HTN among US adults aged ≥20 years was 46% among all adults, 49% among men, and 42.8% among women. The prevalence of HTN was 26.1% among those aged 20-44 years, 59.2% among those aged 45-64 years, and 78.2% among those aged ≥65 years. A higher percentage of men vs women had HTN up to 64 years of age, but women had a higher percentage of HTN vs men at age 65 or older. Approximately 35% of US adults with HTN are not aware they have it.1
Among 1677 participants in the IDACO cohort database aged 40-49 years and not taking antihypertensive medication and with clinic-measured SBP ≥140 mm Hg or DBP ≥90 mm Hg, 35.7% had white-coat HTN. Among 3320 participants in the same database aged 40-49 years who were not taking antihypertensive medication and had clinic-measured SBP<140 mm Hg, DBP <90 mm Hg, 16.9% had masked HTN.2
In a meta-analysis of 20 observational studies and 4 RCTs (N=961 035), the prevalence of treatment-resistant HTN was approximately 13.7% and 16.3%, respectively, among participants.3 In a cohort of 3367 patients with kidney disease, 40.4% had resistant HTN*.4
*Defined as: SBP ≥140 mm Hg or DBP ≥90 mm Hg on ≥3 antihypertensive medications OR use of ≥4 antihypertensive medications and SBP <140 mm Hg and DBP <90 mm Hg
Data from 70 997 patients treated for HTN in the Spanish Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Registry, showed approximately5:
16.9% had resistant HTN (≥140/90 mmHg on at least 3 antihypertensive medications)
37.1% had white-coat resistant HTN
1.4% had refractory HTN (≥140/90 mmHg on ≥5 antihypertensive medications)
26.7% had white-coat refractory HTN
SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) demonstrated that an SBP goal of <120 mm Hg resulted in fewer CVD events and a greater reduction in death vs an SBP goal of <140 mm Hg among people with SBP ≥130 mm Hg and increased CV risk.6 Data from NHANES 2007-2012 showed approximately 7.6% of US adults (16.8 million) met the SPRINT inclusion and exclusion criteria.7
A meta-analysis (49 studies with data collected from 1996-2004, N=63 554) of people aged ≥16 yrs with HIV found the prevalence of HTN was 25.2% overall, 34.7% among those treated with antiretroviral therapy, and 12.7% among those who had not received antiretroviral therapy.8
References:
National Center for Health Statistics. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) public use data files. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/. Accessed February 5, 2020.
