Prevalence
Based on the Third National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES III), approximately 43 million noninstutionalized
US adults, 18 years or older, met the criteria for diagnosis of
hypertension… recommended in the [JNC VI]. Almost 13 million additional
persons had been diagnosed as having hypertension by a health care
professional but did not meet the previously mentioned JNC VI criteria.
Approximately 20 million of the estimated 43 million persons with
hypertension were not being treated with antihypertensive medication; and
almost 12 million of the nearly 23 million for whom such medication was
being prescribed had inadequately controlled hypertension.
Prevalence among those over 20 years
is approximately 22% and 26% according to the CDC, National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS), 1988-94 and 1999-2002 respectively, with the rates being highest for
Black non-Hispanic females (35%, 39%), followed by Black non-Hispanic males
(34%, 37%) and lowest for white females (18%, 23%), followed by Mexican
females (21%, 23%).
Table 67. Hypertension among persons 20 years of age and over, according to
sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin: United States, 1988–94 and 1999–2002
[Data
are based on physical examinations of a sample of the civilian
noninstitutionalized population]
Updated August 2007
Table 69. Hypertension among persons 20 years of age and over, according to
sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin: United States, 1988–94 and 1001 –2004
[Data
are based on physical examinations of a sample of the civilian
noninstitutionalized population]
Data Tables are available from the
National Center for Health Statistics: National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Typically, blood pressure rises
with age; however this is not always the case. Evidence from the Framingham
Heart Study suggests that “the residual lifetime risk for hypertension is 90
percent and the probability of receiving antihypertensive medication is 60
percent for middle-aged and elderly individuals"