Trends in mortality highlight changes, constancies among patients with hypertension

Ford E. Circulation. 2011;doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.110.005645.

Issue: June 2011

New data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey have shown a decrease in mortality among adults with hypertension, whereas the mortality gap among patients with and without the disease has remained relatively unchanged.

Earl S. Ford, MD, of the CDC, conducted the study by analyzing data from 10,852 participants aged 25 to 74 years from the NHANES I carried out between 1971 and 1975, with a mean follow-up of 17.5 years, as well as 12,420 individuals from NHANES III (1988-1994), with a mean follow-up of 14.2 years.

Ford reported that among NHANES I participants, there were 3,963 deaths (n=2,859 among participants with hypertension), whereas for NHANES III participants, there were 2,346 deaths (n=1,346 among participants with hypertension). This led to an age-adjusted mortality rate of 18.8 (13.3 for those nonhypertensive) per 1,000 person-years in the NHANES I individuals vs. 14.3 (9.1 for those nonhypertensive) per 1,000 person-years in the NHANES III group.

Other data of note included gender- and race-specific differences in mortality, suggesting larger reductions for hypertensive men (P<.001) and, to a nonstatistically significant extent, hypertensive blacks when compared with whites.

“The results of the present study suggest that an increased focus on reducing mortality among hypertensive women is needed and that continued efforts to reduce the mortality gap between hypertensive men and women and between hypertensive whites and blacks are needed,” Ford wrote. “Additional improvements in the detection and control of hypertension and careful attention to minimizing the prevalence of risk factors for chronic disease should help to further reduce mortality among people with hypertension.”

Disclosure: Dr. Ford reported no relevant financial disclosures.

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