The Concept of CMR

Prevalence of Hypertension

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Nearly one out of three adults has elevated BP in the United States, with a prevalence of 31.3% in 1999-2000 (3). In this regard, an elevated BP was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death in about 277,000 of over 2,440,000 deaths in the United States in 2003 (4). Hypertension prevalence varies with ethnicity, gender, and age and is higher in African Americans than in Caucasians (5). Information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002 and NHANES 1988-1994 showed hypertension increased from 35.8% to 41.4% among Blacks and from 24.3% to 28.1% among Whites (6). BP also increases with age, and diastolic BP tends to be marginally lower in women than in men, regardless of age (2). However, investigators of the Framingham Heart Study have reported the lifetime risk of hypertension to be approximately 90% for men and women who were non-hypertensive and were 55 to 65 years of age (7).

Reference

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2. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, et al. Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Hypertension 2003; 42: 1206-52.

3. Fields LE, Burt VL, Cutler JA, et al. The burden of adult hypertension in the United States 1999 to 2000: a rising tide. Hypertension 2004; 44: 398-404.

4. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2006 Update. American Heart Association 2006.

5. S S and C K. Hypertension. eMedicine 2006; 1-25.

6. Hertz RP, Unger AN, Cornell JA, et al. Racial disparities in hypertension prevalence, awareness, and management. Arch Intern Med 2005; 165: 2098-104.

7. Vasan RS, Beiser A, Seshadri S, et al. Residual lifetime risk for developing hypertension in middle-aged women and men: The Framingham Heart Study. JAMA 2002; 287: 1003-10.

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