Korea hypertension fact sheet 2021: analysis of nationwide population-based data with special focus on hypertension in women

Background The Korean Society of Hypertension has published the Korea Hypertension Fact Sheet 2021 to provide an overview of the magnitude and management status of hypertension and their recent trends. Methods The Fact Sheets were based on the analyses of Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 1998–2019 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the 2002–2019 National Health Insurance Big Data. Results Currently, the population average of systolic/diastolic blood pressure was 119/76 mmHg in Korean adults aged 20 years or older showing little change in the recent decade. It is estimated that 28% of the adult population aged 20 or older (33% of adults aged 30 or older) have hypertension. The estimated number of people with hypertension was 6.30 million for men and 5.77 million for women, and 1.96 million for men and 2.99 million for women among the population aged 65 or older. The number of people diagnosed with hypertension increased from 3.0 million in 2002 to 10.1 million in 2019. During the same period, the number of people using antihypertensive medication increased from 2.5 million to 9.5 million, and the number of people adherent to treatment increased from 0.6 million to 6.9 million. Among antihypertensive prescriptions, 40.6% of the patients received monotherapy, 43.4% received dual therapy, and 16.0% received triple or more therapy. The most commonly prescribed antihypertensive medication was angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), followed by calcium channel blockers (CCB) and diuretics. In young women, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi), ARB and CCB are less frequently prescribed than in men, but 59.5% of hypertensive women aged 20–39 are prescribed ACEi or ARBs. Hypertensive disorders during pregnancy have been increasing over the past 10 years. In 2019, 5.4% of women who gave birth were diagnosed with chronic hypertension and 3.1% with pregnancy-induced hypertension. Conclusions To achieve further improvement in management of hypertension, we need to encourage awareness and treatment in young adults. It is required to develop tailored prevention and management strategies that are appropriate for and inclusive of various demographics.