Almost half of all Americans develop high blood pressureorhypertensionduring their lifetime.

Some people have this problem without realizing it, and others experience serious complications.

Results are ranked intoseveral categories.

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These numbers indicate theamount of forceyour blood puts on the walls of your blood vessels with each heartbeat.

How Common Is High Blood Pressure?

In comparison, 43.6% of non-Hispanic Whites and 43.7% of Hispanic adults have hypertension.

Blood pressure control also varies by ethnicity, according to the CDC.

Non-Hispanic Whites score highest, with about one-third having control over their blood pressure with medication.

That number drops to about one-fourth for non-Hispanic Black adults and Hispanic adults.

High blood pressure is a contributor to many of the leading causes of death in the United States.

The overall mortality rate for hypertension on its own is 12.7 deaths for every 100,000 people.

Summary

High blood pressure is often called the “silent killer.”

Despite the fact that roughly half of Americans have blood pressure, the problem often developsand gets worseundetected.

Undiagnosed and untreated hypertension can cause serious complications, and even increase your risk of death.

Talk to your healthcare provider about prevention advice, and your individual risk factors for high blood pressure.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.High blood pressure facts.

American Heart Association.What is high blood pressure?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Hypertension prevalence among adults aged 18 and over: United States, 20172018.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.High blood pressure.

National Institutes of Health.High blood pressure and older adults.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Underlying cause of death, 1999-2020 results.