Older Women and Younger Men Are More Likely to Have Uncontrolled Hypertension

Women aged 70 years and older and men aged 20 through 49 years are more likely to have uncontrolled high blood pressure (HBP), despite taking medications, results of a new study presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2021 show.

“Blood pressure control remains a major public health challenge that impacts even those being treated for the disease,” Aayush Visaria, MD, MPH, a postdoctoral research fellow at Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University, said in a statement. “Although we know that women tend to have an accelerated increase in blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk after menopause, we have little information on whether blood pressure control is different by gender and whether it changes with age.”

Investigators analyzed health information from the 1999 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a biannual survey conducted by the CDC.

The study included 13,253 individuals aged 20 years and older who taking prescription medication to treat HBP.

Investigators compared the rates of uncontrolled HBP of men and women in 10-year age-groups.

They found that the differences in the odds of uncontrolled HBP were similar, regardless of the guidelines of criteria among each group.

Among study participants, about 34% had uncontrolled HBP, but the odds for men aged 20 through 29 years was 59% higher compared with women. The odds of men aged 30 through 39 and aged 40 through 49 years having uncontrolled HBP were 70% and 47% compared with women, respectively.

Men and women, aged 50 through 69 years, had similar odds, while women aged 70 through 79 years and aged 80 or older had 29% and 63% higher odds of uncontrolled HBP compared to men, respectively.

The investigators said that a limitation of the study was taking a blood pressure (BP) reading at 1 time point because an individual’s BP usually changes throughout the day.

The American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2021 was held virtually from September 27 through 29, 2021.

Reference

Older women, younger men more likely to have uncontrolled blood pressure. EurekAlert. News release. September 27, 2021. Accessed September 27, 2021. https://www.eurekalert.org/newsreleases/929235