4 in 10 U.S. adults with hypertension don’t know they have it

About 41% of U.S. adults with hypertension are unaware they have it, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Left untreated, high blood pressure can increase the risk for heart disease and stroke.

The American College of Cardiology defines hypertension as having systolic blood pressure of 130 mm Hg or above, or diastolic blood pressure of 80 mm Hg or above.

The NCHS data is drawn from a two-year survey, from August 2021 to August 2023, of the U.S. population. The survey sample “is selected through a complex, multistage design,” the NCHS report says. The survey information was collected in stages, including interviews conducted in subjects’ homes and a standardized health examination in a mobile exam site. An average of up to three blood pressure readings were taken.

In adults over age 18, 48% of the survey’s 6,084 subjects were found to have hypertension — 60% of whom were aware that they had high blood pressure. Men were more likely than women to have high blood pressure, NCHS said, but men were also less likely than women to know they had hypertension.

The prevalence of hypertension increased with age, with a prevalence of 23% among those ages 18 to 39. That rose to 53% for ages 40 to 59 and 72% for those 60 and older. The report also found that, among adults with hypertension, more than half were using medication to lower their blood pressure.

The survey’s finding that nearly half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure falls short of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s Healthy People 2030 target goal to reduce blood pressure to 42% of the population or below, the researchers noted.