Racial/ethnic disparities in prevalence, treatment, and control of hypertension among US adults following application of the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guideline

The 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults recommends reduced systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) cutoffs to define hypertension (i.e., by changing these from ≥140/90 to ≥130/80 mmHg), including new recommendations about indications and goals of antihypertensive treatment. This study reported the differences in age-adjusted prevalence and treatment status of hypertension according to race among US adults per the 2017 ACC/AHA guideline. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–16 data was analyzed. The main outcomes were age-adjusted prevalence and treatment status of hypertension among adults aged ≥20 years. After prevalence estimation, other proportions were obtained. The analysis included 16,103 adults (mean age: 47.6 years, 51.8% women). The age-adjusted proportions of adults with hypertension (59.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 57.4%–60.6%), treatment-eligible for hypertension (49.3%, 95% CI: 47.7%–50.8%), and unmet treatment goals (63.8%, 95% CI: 60.0%–67.5%) among the treated were highest among non-Hispanic blacks. A large proportion of Mexican-Americans (46.5%, 95% CI: 42.0%–51.0%) and people of other races/ethnicities (49.3%, 95% CI: 45.5%–53.0%) were not receiving treatment despite having indication. Non-Hispanic blacks also had the highest prevalence of stage 2 hypertension. Among all races, prevalence, treatment-eligibility, and unmet treatment goals were higher among people with older age, male gender, diabetes, higher body weight, and higher cardiovascular disease risk while the majority of younger, lower/normal body weight, or non-diabetic people were untreated despite being eligible for treatment. The prevalence, treatment-eligibility, and unmet goals were substantially higher among non-Hispanic blacks. Moreover, disparities exist in treatment where Mexican-Americans and people of ‘other races/ethnicities’ were largely untreated despite having indication.