Abstract 32: Global Burden and Control of Hypertension in 2010: Analysis of Population-Based Studies from 89 Countries
Background: Hypertension is an important global health challenge due to its high prevalence and resulting cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. Hypertension is the leading preventable risk factor for premature death and disability worldwide. Objective: We estimated the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension worldwide in 2010 and compared the global burden of hypertension in 2000 and 2010. Methods: We searched MEDLINE for published reports from January 1, 2001 to June 30, 2014 and supplemented with manual searches of references from retrieved articles. We included population-based studies and applied sex-age-specific prevalence of hypertension from each country to population data to assess the number of hypertensive adults in each region and globally. Proportions of awareness, treatment and control from each country were applied to hypertensive populations to obtain regional and global estimates. Results: An estimated 29.8% (95% confidence interval 29.6-30.0%) of the world’s adult population in 2010 had hypertension (30.7% [30.4-31.0%] in men and 28.8% [28.6-29.0%] in women). The estimated total number of hypertensive adults in 2010 was 1.33 billion (1.32-1.34 billion); 346 million (336-356 million) in high-income and 985 million (977-994 million) in low- and middle-income countries. From 2000 to 2010, the age-standardized prevalence of hypertension increased by 2.5% worldwide. The hypertension prevalence decreased 3.5% in high-income countries, whereas the prevalence increased 4.5% in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, from 2000 to 2010 the number of hypertensive adults increased by 354 million (334 million in low- and middle-income countries compared to 19 million in high-income countries). Proportions of hypertension awareness, treatment and control worldwide in 2010 were 43.5% (43.1-44.0%), 33.8% (33.3-34.2%), and 12.3% (12.1-12.6%), respectively. The proportion of hypertension control was 27.7% (27.0-28.3%) in high-income and 6.9% (6.7-7.1) in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusions: Prevention and treatment of hypertension should be a global health priority due to its high prevalence and low control rate globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries.