The impact of changes in population blood pressure on hypertension prevalence and control in China.

Abstract

In China, there are approximately 250 million adults who have hypertension with low rates of awareness, treatment and control. Changes in lifestyles at a population level have the potential to enhance or deteriorate the prevention and control of hypertension. We used data from a regional hypertension survey to examine the impact of 2/1mmHg decreases or increases in population blood pressure on hypertension prevalence, and rates of unawareness of the hypertension diagnosis, treatment, and control. The primary analysis was based on the average blood pressure of respondents from three visits and a diagnostic threshold of 140/90mmHg for hypertension. Secondary analyses examined average blood pressure from the first survey visit and also a diagnostic threshold of 130/80mmHg for hypertension. The baseline hypertension prevalence was 33.4%, and rates of unawareness of the hypertension diagnosis, treatment, and control were 74.2%, 25.8%, and 9.7%, respectively. Decreases or increases in blood pressure by 10/5mmHg resulted in changes in hypertension prevalence (22.1% vs 53.4%) and rates of unawareness of the diagnosis (60.9% vs 83.8%), treatment (39.1% vs 16.2%), and control (21.2% vs 3.6%), respectively. Similar trends were seen in the secondary analyses. Population changes in lifestyle could have a very large impact on the prevalence and control of hypertension in China. The results support implementation of programs to improve population lifestyles while implementing health services policies to enhance the clinical management of hypertension.