More Americans have their blood pressure under control

According to a new study far more Americans now have their blood pressure under control which is good news especially with regard to the risks of heart attack, stroke and other diseases.

In a report released by the American Heart Association, more than a third, 36.8 percent, now have their blood pressure at healthy levels, compared to 29.2 percent in 1999 and 2000.

However, good though the news is, it still remains that less than half have their blood pressure at a desirable level.

Dr. Bernard Cheung, an associate professor at Hong Kong University, who wrote the report, says the improvements are probably linked to the increased public awareness about the risks associated with hypertension, despite the fact that the number of Americans with high blood pressure remains the same.

Dr. Cheung says it is hard to attribute the improvement to any particular factor and though they found no statistically significant increases in levels of awareness, detection or treatment, all three factors probably contribute in a some way.

He also says the trend did not appear to be related to better drugs.

For the report the researchers examined information on 14,653 people from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys taken between 1999 and 2004 and found the proportion of Americans with high blood pressure or hypertension remained more or less unchanged.

However it was found that the numbers who had their blood pressure below the desired level of 140/90 increased from less that 30 percent to 36.8 percent in 2004.

Dr. Cheung says the increase in the control rate is a "remarkable jump" and may help to decrease the incidence of strokes and heart attacks, which is highly encouraging.

An estimated 60 million U.S. adults have high blood pressure which is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney failure.

Dr. Cheung says despite these encouraging findings, a quarter of people with hypertension were unaware they had it and about one-third of people with hypertension were not being treated in 2003-04.

It seems many adults below the age of 40 often do not know they have hypertension, whereas awareness of hypertension is high among the elderly.

Dr. Cheung says this is unfortunate, because hypertension in the younger age group is relatively easy to control.

Diabetics with high blood pressure must keep theirs below 130/80 to have it considered controlled.

The report appears in the current issue of Hypertension.