Prevalence of Hypertension in Portugal: Results from the First National Health Examination Survey (2015)

Background: Cardiovascular disorders are the main cause of mortality worldwide and arterial hypertension is recognized as a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. Methods: In Portugal, a National Health Examination Survey was conducted in 2015, where blood pressure was measured to 4911 randomly selected individuals aged 25 to 74 years old, following the European Health Examination Survey procedures. Hypertensive individuals were defined as those having Systolic Blood Pressure ≥140mmHg or Diastolic Blood Pressure ≥90 mmHg or those who reported taking prescribed anti-hypertensive medication during the two weeks preceding the interview. Prevalence of hypertension was estimated for the whole population and stratified by sex, age, education level and employment status. For comparison proposes, age and sex-standardized prevalence rates were also computed. Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension was 36.0% [95%CI:34.3-37.7] and was higher among men (39.6%, [36.5-42.8]) than women (32.7%, [30.1-35.5]). Hypertension increased with age from 5.7% [3.1%-10.4%] among individuals aged 25-34 to 71.3% [65.7-76.4] in the 65-74 age group. Higher age and sex-standardized prevalence was found among individuals with lower education (45.1%, [38.7-51.7]) and without professional activity (41.3%, [36.8-45.9]). Regarding the total population, 25% [23.3-26.7] reported taking anti-hypertensive medication. Of these 28.7% [25.3-32.4] had uncontrolled hypertension. Lack of hypertension control was significantly associated with absence of family physician (27.5% vs 41.7%). Conclusions: This large national epidemiological survey showed that hypertension prevalence was 36.0% (slightly lower than the prevalence found in the PHYSA study, performed in 2011-2012) and was higher among men and low socioeconomic groups. Among those aware of their condition, about a third still fails to have controlled hypertension, a fact possibly associated with lack of family physician.The Portuguese National Health Examination Survey is developed as a part of the project “Improvement of epidemiological health information to support public health decision and management in Portugal. Towards reduced inequalities, improved health, and bilateral cooperation”, that benefits from a 1.500.000€ Grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants.N/