High blood pressure prevalence from 2019 ASA heart disease and stroke statistics

Hypertension is defined in terms of NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) blood pressure measurements and health interviews. A subject was considered to have hypertension if systolic blood pressure was ≥130 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure was ≥80 mmHg, if the subject said "yes" to taking antihypertensive medication, or if the subject was told on 2 occasions that he or she had hypertension. A previous publication that used NHANES 2011 to 2014 data estimated there were 103.3 million noninstitutionalized US adults with hypertension.^[1] The number of US adults with hypertension in this table includes both noninstitutionalized and institutionalized US individuals. Also, the previous study did not include individuals who reported having been told on 2 occasions that they had hypertension as having hypertension unless they met another criterion (systolic blood pressure was ≥130 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure was ≥80 mmHg, if the subject said "yes" to taking antihypertensive medication).