THURSDAY, May 30, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- The percentage of Americans who have high blood pressure rose 8.7 percent during the 1990s, and the government says it's in part because more people were overweight or obese.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report today saying that 24.9 percent of us reported having hypertension in 1999. In 1991, the incidence was 22.9 percent.
The increase was observed in all socioeconomic, gender, and racial groups and in all age groups except people between 20 and 44 years old, says the report in tomorrow's issue of the CDC publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
High blood pressure is defined as having a systolic pressure (the higher of the two numbers) higher than 140 and a diastolic pressure (the lower number) higher than 90. Ideal blood pressure is 120 over 80 or below.
"This is the first report to show this trend, which we suspect is being driven by the increase in obesity and overweight," the CDC says in a news release. The report itself, however, adds that more Americans report having hypertension because more are being screened for it. Roughly 100 percent of adults 20 and over say they had their blood pressure checked at least once between 1991 and 1999. Screening rates in the last two years were lower, however, as were overall screening rates among men, Hispanics, younger adults and those who never finished high school.
Arizona reported the lowest incidence -- 14 percent -- of people with high blood pressure in 1999. It was one of only three states (Connecticut and Nebraska are the other two) to see noticeable drops in hypertension rates throughout the 1990s. Alabama, on the other hand, had the highest rate in 1999, at 31.6 percent. Florida, North Dakota, and Virginia had the highest rates of increases during that time.
More information
Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, but it is also a condition that is easily found and treated -- sometimes through simple lifestyle changes. Learn more about high blood pressure from the American Heart Association.
