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. 2017 Oct;70(4):736-742.
doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.09801. Epub 2017 Aug 28.

Trends in the Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension Among Young Adults in the United States, 1999 to 2014

Yiyi Zhang  1 , Andrew E Moran  2
Affiliations

Trends in the Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension Among Young Adults in the United States, 1999 to 2014

Yiyi Zhang et al. Hypertension. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Overall hypertension prevalence has not changed in the United States in recent decades although awareness, treatment, and control improved. However, hypertension epidemiology and its temporal trends may differ in younger adults compared with older adults. Our study included 41 331 participants ≥18 years of age from 8 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (1999-2014) and estimated temporal trends of hypertension, awareness, treatment, and control among young adults (age, 18-39 years) compared with middle-age (age, 40-59 years) and older adults (age, ≥60 years). In 2013 to 2014, 7.3% of the US young adults had hypertension. During 1999 to 2014, young adults saw larger increases in hypertension awareness, treatment, and control than did older adults. However, all of these components of hypertension control were lower among young adults compared with middle-aged or older adults (74.7% younger versus 81.9% middle versus 88.4% older for awareness; 50.0% versus 70.3% versus 83.0% for treatment; and 40.2% versus 56.7% versus 54.4% for control). Worse hypertension awareness, treatment, and control in young adults overall were mostly driven by worse measures in young adult men compared with young adult women. More frequent healthcare visits by young adult women explained ≈28% of the sex-related difference in awareness, 60% of the difference in treatment, and 52% of the difference in control. These findings suggest that improved access to and engagement in medical care might improve hypertension control in young adults, particularly young adult men, and reduce life-time cardiovascular risk.

Keywords: blood pressure; body mass index; cardiovascular diseases; hypertension; young adult.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence and total number (in millions) of non-institutionalized U.S. adults with hypertension in 2013–2014.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age-standardized weighted prevalence (95% CI) of hypertension, prehypertension, awareness, treatment, and control by age.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Age-standardized weighted prevalence (95% CI) of hypertension, prehypertension, awareness, treatment, and control by age and sex.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Age-standardized weighted prevalence of overweight and obesity among participants with hypertension.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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