Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, and Control in US Adults Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Serial cross-sectional survey data (NHANES)
PubMed 40685707 · doi:10.1111/jch.70093
What was done
Analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) comparing pre-pandemic (2017–March 2020) to post-pandemic (August 2021–August 2023) cohorts among 14,449 participants representing 237 million US adults. Evaluated weighted, age-standardized nationwide prevalence, awareness, and blood pressure control using Poisson regression to calculate prevalence ratios (PRs).
What was found
Hypertension prevalence was 49.5% pre-pandemic versus 47.7% post-pandemic (PR 0.96; p = 0.15). Overall awareness was unchanged (57.7% vs. 53.7%; PR 0.96; p = 0.14) but declined significantly in adults aged 18–39 years (PR 0.78; p = 0.02). Blood pressure control remained low (25.9% vs. 22.3%; PR 0.91; p = 0.06) and worsened significantly in men (PR 0.83; p = 0.01).
Why it matters
This study shows that US hypertension management did not improve after the COVID-19 pandemic, with specific subgroup deterioration in awareness among young adults and control among men.
Limits
The repeated cross-sectional design cannot track individual longitudinal trajectories or establish causality. NHANES data collection was disrupted between March 2020 and August 2021, and the abstract does not report data on medication adherence, lifestyle changes, or healthcare access disparities.
Cited by
- supports Almost 50% of US adults have hypertension, and 20% of young adults aged 18 to 39 have hypertension.