Am J Hypertens

BACKGROUNDWe sought to estimate how much the presence of hypertension adds to annual per capita and total expenditures for medication among US adults.METHODSThe sample included 21,782 civilian noninstitutionalized adults aged 6518 years who participated in the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Hypertension was defined as having a diagnosis of high blood pressure (except during pregnancy) or taking a blood pressure medication. We used a 2-part model to examine all-cause medication expenditure associated with hypertension.RESULTSThe prevalence of hypertension was 32.2%. Overall, 66.7% of adults purchased prescribed medications, with this proportion higher among hypertensive (93.0%) than normotensive (54.4%) adults (P < 0.001). Hypertensive adults were more likely to have medication expenditures than were normotensive adults (odds ratio (OR) = 6.42; P < 0.001). Among hypertensive adults, those aged 6545 years were more likely to incur medication expenditure than those aged 18\u201344 years (OR = 3.00, P < 0.001 for those aged 45\u201364 years; OR = 5.95, P < 0.001 for those aged 6565 years), whereas women were 2.91 times as likely as men to have medication spending (P < 0.001). Hispanics were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have such spending (OR = 0.51; P < 0.001). Among those purchasing medications, the average cost was $1,510 higher among hypertensive persons ($2,337) than normotensive persons ($827). Hypertension-associated expenditures for medication were estimated at $68 billion in the US civilian non-institutionalized population in 2007.CONCLUSIONSThe presence of hypertension among US adults is associated with an increase of all-cause expenditures for medication, with this increase varying across groups by age and sex.20132015-08-21T00:00:00ZCC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States23727748PMC4544731864