Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the older population: results from the multiple national studies on ageing

The international comparisons that provided useful epidemiologic information of hypertension in the elderly people is still sparse; we aim to provide the latest international estimates on the burden of hypertension. These sampling methods of the selection of surveys mainly used multistage population registry; this cross-national study of 63,014 adults aged ≥50 years was from in four high-income countries, four upper–middle–income countries (UMICs), and three low–middle–income countries (LMICs). Overall, the age-standardized prevalence of hypertension among the adult population aged ≥50 years was 53.2% (51.9% of men and 54.3% of women). The high-income countries and UMICs had more or less twice the prevalence of hypertension compare with LMICs. The rates of awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension were 55.6%, 44.1%, and 17.1%, respectively, and awareness and control of hypertension were lowest in UMICs and treatment of hypertension was lowest in LMICs. Among this multiple national study population, hypertension was very common among elderly population. Even more worrisome is that the rates of awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension were relatively low in UMICs and IMICs. These results indicate that improving the ability to control and prevention of hypertension in resource-limited settings is needed.