Hypertension - Definition / Prevalence

Hypertension – Definition
Hyper means abnormally increase/excessive. Tension means the act of stretching but in arterial tension it could also mean blood pressure within the artery. So combined the words together it would mean high blood pressure in the artery.

Hypertension is defined as persistent elevation of systolic BP of 140 mmHg or greater and/or diastolic BP of 90 mmHg or greater.

Hypertension – Incidence / Prevalence
US population is 31% with no apparent difference by race or ethnicity based on the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III; 1999-2000)

In Malaysia, data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 1996 indicates that 37% of our populations have prehypertension. Patients with prehypertension are at increased risk for progression to hypertension. In the Framingham study, the high-normal BP group conversion rate was 37% in 4 years.

Stage 1 (140-159/90-99) – 20%
Stage 2 (160-180/100-109) – 8%
Stage 3 (>180/>110) – 4%

CPG of Hypertension 2008
http://www.infosihat.gov.my/media/garisPanduan/GP_CPG/CPG%20Hypertension/CPG%20Hypertension.pdf

Twenty-one thousand and three hundred ninety-one (21,391) adults aged 30 or older in all 13 states is the size of the sample size. Thirty-three percent or an estimated 2.6 million Malaysian adults aged 30 or older had hypertension (Table III). Women had a higher prevalence of hypertension than men. Malay and other indigenous women had the highest crude and age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension while Chinese and Indian women had the lowest prevalence.

Blood pressure only taken once. Diagnostic criteria suggest take BP measurement should be done twice or more to be more valid.

National Health and Morbidity Survey 1996.
http://www.sma.org.sg/smj/4501/4501a4.pdf

Shown bellow is the extrapolated studies done based on the statistic in the USA. As such, it may be highly inaccurate as it does not take in the account of many factors such as genetic, environment, culture and etc.
Country/Region Extrapolated Prevalence Population Estimated Used
Malaysia 4,323,985 23,522,4822
Country/Region Extrapolated Undiagnosed Prevalence Population Estimated Used
Malaysia 1,297,195 23,522,4822
2. US Census Bureau, International Data Base, 2004