High Blood Pressure of American adults

The number of adults in the U.S. with high blood pressure increased by nearly a third during the last 10 years, according to the latest government figures. Sixty-five million Americans now have hypertension or about 8% of the population, compared with 50 million a decade ago. While much of the rise can be explained by the fact that the U.S. population is larger and older than it was 10 years ago, the increase in the number of overweight and obese Americans is also a major contributing factor, says American Heart Association spokesman David Goff, MD, PhD. "Over the past 40 years we have seen heart attack and stroke rates go down, but now that blood pressure levels are going up we may soon see heart attack and stroke rates start to go back up as well," Goff tells WebMD. Goff is a professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The findings show that nearly a third of American adults have high blood pressure, defined for most people as having a systolic (top) number of 140 mm Hg or higher and/or a diastolic (bottom) number of 90 mm Hg or higher.. To come up with the new figures, government researchers analyzed data from the CDC's National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey of the U.S. from years 1988 to 1994 and compared them with data from 1999 to 2000. Hypertension was defined as having blood pressure of 140/90 mm Hg or higher, using blood pressure lowering medication, or having been told at least twice by a doctor that they have high blood pressure. Eighty percent or four out of five cases of hypertension occurred in people aged 45 and older. Along racial lines, non-Hispanic blacks, especially females had the highest rates of high blood pressure. They made up 40% of those found to be diagnosed with high blood pressure compared with 27% who were non-Hispanic whites and just under 29% who were Mexican Americans, informs WebMD. According to Reuters, more Americans than ever have high blood pressure and the number has risen by nearly a third over the past decade, researchers reported on Monday. The usual suspects are to blame -- aging, obesity, a lack of exercise and too much junk food, the U.S. government research team found. At least 65 million Americans have hypertension, defined as blood pressure of 140/90 or more, a medical diagnosis of high blood pressure or the use of drugs to lower blood pressure. This equals nearly a third of U.S. adults, the researchers said. They found the number of adults with high blood pressure increased by 30 percent from 1988 to 2000. Bloomberg reports that the number of U.S. adults with high blood pressure increased 30 percent over the past decade, according to a study in the journal Hypertension. Long-term hypertension increases the risk of disease of the heart, kidneys, eyes and other disorders. Some patients can control their blood pressure with diet, exercise and by quitting smoking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site. While fewer people are smoking, helping lower heart disease nationwide, the increase in obesity threatens heart health in the U.S., Goff said. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight and 20 percent of are obese, or 30 pounds above ideal weight, according to a January study in Obesity Research. ``The main thing going on here is that the population is getting fatter,'' Goff said. ``Our population needs to move around more and eat fewer calories.''

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