Trends in Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment and Control in Older Mexican Americans, 1993–2005

Abstract

To describe trends in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control among older Mexican Americans living in the Southwestern United States from 1993-1994 to 2004-2005. This study is a comparison between two separate cross-sectional cohorts of non-institutionalized Mexican Americans 75 years of age or older from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (919 subjects from the 1993-1994 cohort and 738 from the 2004-2005 cohort). Data were collected on self-reported hypertension, measured blood pressure, medications, as well as sociodemographic and other health-related factors. Hypertension prevalence increased from 73.0% in the period 1993-1994 to 78.4% in 2004-2005. Cross-cohort multivariate analyses showed that the higher odds of hypertension in the 2004-2005 cohort was attenuated by adding diabetes and obesity to the model. There was a significant increase in hypertension awareness among hypertensives (63.0% to 82.6%) and in control among treated hypertensives (42.5% to 55.4%). Cross-cohort multivariate analyses showed that the higher odds of control in 2004-2005 cohorts were accentuated by adding diabetes to the model. There were no significant changes in treatment rates (62.2% to 65.6%) Hypertension prevalence in very old Mexican Americans residing in the Southwestern United States was higher in 2004-2005 than in 1993-1994 and was accompanied by a significant increase in awareness and control rates.