Trends in Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment and Control in Older Mexican Americans, 1993-2005

Purpose: To describe trends in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control among older Mexican Americans living in the Southwestern United States from 1993-1994 to 2004-2005. Methods: This study is a comparison between two separate cross-sectional cohorts of non-institutionalized Mexican Americans 75 years of age or older from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (919 subjects from the 1993-1994 cohort and 738 from the 2004-2005 cohort). Data were collected on self-reported hypertension, measured blood pressure, medications, as well as sociodemographic and other health-related factors. Results: Hypertension prevalence increased from 73.0% in the period 1993-1994 to 78.4% in 2004-2005. Cross-cohort multivariate analyses showed that the higher odds of hypertension in the 2004-2005 cohort was attenuated by adding diabetes and obesity to the model. There was a significant increase in hypertension awareness among (63.0% to 82.6%) and in control among treated hypertensives (42.5% to 55.4%). Cross-cohort multivariate analyses showed that the higher odds of control in 2004-2005 cohorts were accentuated by adding diabetes to the model. There were no significant changes in treatment rates (62.2% to 65.6%). Conclusion: Hypertension prevalence in very old Mexican Americans residing in the Southwestern United States was higher in 2004-2005 than in 1993-1994 and was accompanied by a significant increase in awareness and control rates.