Using data from two previous studies, the U.S. Public Health Service and CDC have released its follow-up study on high blood pressure. Using results from two National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), the death rate among adults ages 25-74 were compared on the follow-up study. The NHANES I study results were from participants between 1971 and 1975. NHANES II study results were from participants between 1988 and 1994.
Advances in the treatment of medication have greatly reduced the mortality rates for hypertension, “… but despite the availability of several types of medication to reduce blood pressure, there is still a large gap between those with hypertension and those without,” said Earl S. Ford, M.D., M.P.H., study author and medical officer with the U.S. Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study found:
- The overall death rate (number of deaths for every 1,000 person-years and adjusted for age) was 18.8 among NHANES I participants with high blood pressure, 42 percent higher than in those without it (13.3).
- From NHANES I until NHANES II, mortality rates had fallen to 14.3 in hypertensive patients, 57 percent higher than in those without high blood pressure (9.1).
- Men were more likely to die than women in both time periods.
- The decline in deaths among hypertensive men (7.7, a 33 percent relative reduction) was more than four times larger than among hypertensive women (1.9, a 12 percent relative reduction).
On average, women with hypertension had larger declines in blood pressure than men with it. But women gained more weight, were more likely to develop diabetes and heart disease risks, and were less likely to quit smoking.
Between the two surveys, hypertensive patients had a:
- 45 percent smaller reduction in total cholesterol levels
- 30 percent larger increase in body mass index
- 3.6 times larger increase in the diagnoses of diabetes
- 25 percent larger decrease in the percentage of smokers
“The mortality gap that remains despite improved treatment means that hypertensive patients need to be aggressively monitored for risk factors other than blood pressure, with efforts made to reduce the total burden of heart disease risks,” Ford said. –a. robinson
