Prevalence of hypertension subtypes in 2011 and the trends from 1991 to 2011 among Chinese adults.

Background: This study aims to estimate the current prevalence and trends of hypertension subtypes among Chinese adults from 1991 to 2011.

Methods: We analysed the measurements of systolic and diastolic blood pressure among adults aged ≥18 years from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 1991-2011. The prevalence was age-adjusted to the 2010 census of Chinese adults.

Results: The adjusted prevalence in 2011 was 20.9% (95% CI 20.2% to 21.6%) of hypertension, 3.30% (95% CI 2.99% to 3.62%) of isolated systolic hypertension, 4.44% (95% CI 4.08% to 4.80%) of isolated diastolic hypertension, 4.11% (95% CI 3.76% to 4.46%) of systolic-diastolic hypertension and 9.01% (95% CI 8.51% to 9.51%) of current use of antihypertensive medication, respectively. From 1991 to 2011, the prevalence increased from 15.6% to 20.9% for hypertension (p<0.001) and from 3.04% to 3.30% for isolated systolic hypertension (p<0.001). However, the prevalence decreased from 4.77% to 4.44% for isolated diastolic hypertension (p=0.023) and from 5.27% to 4.11% for systolic-diastolic hypertension (p<0.001). Consistent with these findings, the percentage of current use of antihypertensive medication increased from 2.55% to 9.01%, which accounted for approximately 43.1% of the total number of cases in 2011. Importantly, only 36.9% (equivalent to 17.5% of the total number of hypertensive people) of cases of current use of antihypertensive medication were adequately controlled.

Conclusions: Both the prevalence of hypertension and the percentage of current use of antihypertensive medication significantly increased from 1991 to 2011. Currently, about one-fifth of Chinese adults are hypertensive; however, only 17.5% of hypertension is controlled.