Objective: To examine United States (US) trends in racial/ethnic differences in hypertension awareness and antihypertensive medication use, and whether these differences help explain racial/ethnic differences in hypertension control among adults from 2011 to 2018.
Design: Population-based study.
Setting: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2011-2018.
Participants: A nationally representative sample of US adults aged 18 years or older.
Main outcome measures: Hypertension awareness was defined as self-reported physician diagnosis of hypertension. Antihypertensive treatment was based on self-reported use of antihypertensive agents. Blood pressure (BP) control was measured systolic BP <140 mmHg and diastolic BP <90 mmHg.
Results: This study included 8,095 adults with hypertension from NHANES 2011-2018. During the study period, age-adjusted hypertension awareness declined from 84.0% (95% confidence interval 79.5 to 86.2) to 77.5% (74.0 to 80.5), hypertension treatment declined from 77.3% (73.4 to 81.1) to 71.4% (69.0 to 73.8) and control rates declined from 51.9% (47.1 to 56.7) to 43.1% (39.7 to 46.5). These declines were consistent for Black, Hispanic, and White individuals, but the three outcomes increased or did not change for Asian individuals. Compared with White individuals, Black individuals did not have a significantly different awareness (odds ratio:1.20 [0.96 to 1.45]) and overall treatment rate (1.04 [0.84 to 1.25]), but received more antihypertensive medications if treated (1.41 [1.27 to 1.56]), and had a lower BP control rate (0.72 [0.61 to 0.83]); Asian and Hispanic individuals had significantly lower awareness rates (0.69 [0.52 to 0.85] and 0.74 [0.59 to 0.89], respectively), overall treatment rates (0.72 [0.57 to 0.88] and 0.69 [0.55 to 0.82]), received fewer medications if treated (0.60 [0.50 to 0.72] and 0.86 [0.75 to 0.96]), and had lower BP control rates (0.66 [0.54 to 0.79] and 0.69 [0.57 to 0.81]). The racial/ethnic differences in awareness, treatment, and BP control persisted over the study period and were consistent across age, sex, and income strata. Lower awareness and treatment were associated with lower BP control in Asian and Hispanic individuals, but not in Black individuals.
Conclusions: Hypertension awareness, treatment, and control declined from 2011-2018, and this decline was consistent for Black, Hispanic, and White individuals. BP control was worse for Asian, Black, and Hispanic individuals than for White individuals over the entire study period; this was explained partly by differences in awareness and treatment for Asian and Hispanic individuals, but not for Black individuals.
Letter From Barrios and Escobar Regarding Article, “Trends in Antihypertensive Medication Use and Blood Pressure Control Among United States Adults With Hypertension: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001 to 2010”
