Prevalence of High Blood Pressure in the Population Covered by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran, during 2017

High blood pressure is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Hypertension has different prevalence rates across the world. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of high blood pressure in the middle-aged and elderly population covered by the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

This analytical cross-sectional study was carried out on the secondary data of SINA (Integrated Health Information System) performed on 246,904 people, aged ≥ 30 years, registered in 2017. Diagnostic testing was performed according to the clinical guidelines of the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, and Evaluation (JNC7). The data were analyzed using the SPSS software, version 22. Chi-square tests were used to analyze the relationships between the variables. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The overall prevalence of hypertension was estimated at 32.3%. With regard to gender distribution, the prevalence of this disorder among males and females was obtained as 32% and 32.5%, respectively. Additionally, this disorder had the prevalence rates of 25.3% and 38.8% in cities and villages, respectively.

It seems that the prevalence of high blood pressure is higher in the studied population than in those living in many parts of Iran and the world. Accordingly, it is required to plan serious interventions in this regard.